Changing the color of the ocean one drop at a time!

Ever feel like you would just like to change the whole world … quickly … over night … in a twinkling of an eye? Just transform everyone and everything into the image of Christ?

Actually that is what we are called to do or at least allow God to work through us to bring it about.

I remember standing at 5-points in Atlanta and just being overwhelmed by the mass of humanity that intersected at that massive intersection in an extremely busy major city. I had just entered seminary. Hadn’t had my first class yet. I was leaving Cokesbury Bookstore with a bag of books for the classes I had signed up to take that first semester.

I was on fire for the Lord. I was ready to take on the world. I was eager to make it happen. And then, I was simply overwhelmed by the mess of folk being encountered.

It dawned on me that for me to transform the world would be like trying to change the color of the ocean with a small bottle of food dye and one of those little eyedroppers. All I could do is add just a few drops of color over the full span of my life. What difference would it really make? There were just too many people and too few hours, opportunities, chances …

As clear as a sounding bell it came to me – “Good, now I can do something through you!” Was it God? Was it simply my spirit trying to bring peace to a troubled soul? The sensation of God’s presences didn’t leave me, but I was at peace with the task ahead. All I had to be was available. I wasn’t the change agent – God was. I wasn’t the one who was to transform the world – God was. All I had to be was available to add my few drops of food coloring in the great ocean of life.

And if I would change a few and you would change a few and each of our neighbors changed a few before too long we could change the color of the ocean! Like the old theme song of the Methodist Student Movement said: “You bring the one next to you and I will bring the next to me and before too long we will have them all …” And the ocean will be a different color! The participants in the student movement went out believing that they really could win the world for Christ in their lifetime. Oh, to be captured by that sense of excitement and commitment … oh, to be captured by that enthusiasm … oh, to be captured by that idea … oh, to be captured by God for the sake of the Kingdom!