By James Wilson
Diana
and I did not plant the sandalwood grove on the back slopes of the Haleakala
volcano; Native Hawaiians re-introducing native vegetation did. We did not plant the nearby settlement at
Kahiki Nui; Hawaiians entitled to land under the ethnic homestead law built
their homes. But we did help.
When wildfire
erupted in 2003 – threatening to burn out the settlement and trees that had not
grown on Maui in more than a century we were there. We called people of prayer back in California
and soon had about fifty praying round the clock – while firefighters fought
their hearts out in the almost inaccessible terrain and braved the rifle fire
of marijuana growers in the same neighborhood.
Our team prayed nothing but blessing on all concerned. In a few days the fire was out and – though
flames came within a few feet of settlement and sandalwood – no harm was done
to homes or trees. The marijuana growers
were burnt out and – yes – they too were blessed because the evil they
represented was short-circuited.
Settlement and sandalwood continue to flourish today.
We
did one thing while others did many things.
Others remained to build after we went home. But the one thing we did helped a lot. We exercised the Andrew Anointing.
Andrew
is one of the obscure apostles. In John
1:40-42 Andrew hears what John the Baptist says about Jesus being the Son of
God and believes it. He immediately goes
to find his brother, Peter, telling him the Messiah has been found. Peter becomes the most famous of the
apostles; he does many things that are recorded in scripture. So far as the Biblical record can show,
Andrew only did one thing. But
exercising the anointing that carries his name helped to advance the Kingdom of
God a lot.
There
is no way to know which thing we do will leave the world a better place but we
can know what things are worth doing. We
know it every time we act to serve the least of these – as Jesus instructs in
Matthew 25:31-40. We know it each time
we have each other’s backs – as Jesus declares in John 10 and 15 – defending
the weaker brother from the bully. We
know it each time we confess Jesus as Lord, as He promises in Luke 21 and
Matthew 10. And we know it each time we
make sacrifice – for Him or for one of His little ones – because that is why He
came into the world – to make sacrifice for each of us. Each time we do a thing just because it is
worth doing we exercise the Andrew Anointing…at the very least.
There
are typically many “one things” we have the opportunity to do in a lifetime. Taken alone they seem small – because they
are – but the Lord knits these little things into a tapestry for His
glory. I had forgotten the little thing
I did more than a decade ago until the Wintu leader spoke of it during the
recent dedication of his tribal cultural center. This leader needed to pick up another leader
and his car was not functioning. I
loaned him my car for the afternoon and he was able to pick up his colleague –
no big deal. But as he tells the story the
seemingly insignificant assist I provided led to introductions with the leaders
of Bethel Church in Redding and the church soon began monthly donations to the
tribe. They called it “rent” because
their buildings sit on land that once belonged to the Wintu and for which they
had never been compensated. The
relationship deepened and the leaders honored the church that day for
facilitating the building of the cultural center in ways large and small. It began with the loan of a car. Who could know?
In
the famous story Loren Eiseley walks a beach after a storm. Thousands of storm-tossed starfish on the
beach are dying; a young boy walking along is throwing the starfish back into
the water one at a time. Eiseley
approaches the boy and asks why; with thousands of starfish stranded, he says,
the effort cannot make a real difference.
The boy responds, “It makes a difference to this one,” as he throws
another one back. What Eiseley does not
express is the reality that it makes as much difference to the boy as to the
starfish.
Our
Lord says if we are faithful in small things He will begin to trust us with
much more. He wants us to use all of our
anointing and gifting. But the Andrew
Anointing is a real good place to start.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living
As Ambassadors of Relationships and The
Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by
e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
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