January 29 – “Molehills”

I talked to our youth pastor today about this summer's camp in Glorieta, New Mexico.  He told me we have 29 signed up for camp.  That's a pretty incredible number for our little post-Ike Galveston Body.  Now we face the rather daunting task of fund-raising for transportation, counselors, and scholarships.  Then Mike told me he heard from the group that has become our sister youth group – kids from storm ravaged Port Bolivar, High Island, and Crystal Beach.  They plan to go with us to camp.  But now it looks like they might have as many as 16 students wanting to go.  They found out that there are spots available for them.  And this will be a great chance for that group to become a group.  Creative missions.  God is at work.   Today was my day to teach at Seaside Christian Academy.  The lesson was on creation.  I gave them each two minutes to create and draw a new species of animal.  They came up with some pretty wild things.  After class I joined them in picking up trash from under the new school building.  I didn't get to do anything at house other than pick up the mail.  Felt good to be doing something.   While doing it I realized something about the sense of humor of God.  The church has one of those signs outside that we put cute sayings on.  The one I chose for this last week was, "To make a mountain out of a molehill, just add dirt."  Now I understand the intended meaning. When you start spreading rumors and talking bad about someone it just causes a bad situation to get worse.  But the thing that hit me was, right after I put that sign up, one of the school Dads arranged for truckload after truckload of soil to be delivered to our site.  We could never have afforded to add that much dirt.  All of a sudden the molehill that was our school building site had become a mountain of fresh soil.  Never again would our vacant lot be called Lake Seaside.  And in the process, with the sign, God turned a negative proverb into a resounding proclamation of his power.  Once again, God is at work.   Seaside is in the process of trying to figure out where we are going now – now that the storm is over and the people are well into their reconstruction or retreat.  We are making a concerted effort to look for where God is at work around us so we can join him.    Romans 8:28-29 says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."   Father, come on.  Make mountains out of our molehills.  Amen.