Several years ago Kimberly and I attended a children’s conference in San Diego, CA and I walked away from the experience thinking that it was one of the most beautiful places that I had been. The temperature was perfect, we were next to the ocean, and the sun sets were spellbinding. So it breaks my heart to hear about the wildfires that currently ravage the California landscape. As I was running today at the YMCA I caught the tag line that there is a person they have on suspicion of arson. If it turns out to be true, imagine the massive impact.

One man intentionally starting one small fire, caused over a billion (yes billion) dollars worth of damages to property, over four people dead, and thousands of peoples are being relocated, having to live in rustic, primitive housing. Not to mention that the president stopped running a country to make a personal visit. One man with a twisted desire to start fires has drastically changed thousands of people’s lives forever.

We also have something just as potent as fire. We also have a means to radically change thousands of people’s lives. Jesus describes it like this in Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

One man with an evil desire can change so many, but so can one Christ follower who allows his heart to blaze for God.

Below is an e-mail that I received from a leader in our church. I pass it on to you in it’s entirety to read because I think it shows why we show God’s love through service.

Hi Drew,

I got a call today from Bruce Gurley, the case worker from the ARC who referred the Little family to us. He was very appreciative of us doing the ramp for Eddie, and stated that Eddie was ecstatic with the ramp.

Mark and Stephan went out tonight and finished with the concrete work at the end of the ramp, so we should be done now. I wasn’t sure if you saw the thank you letter from the Littles – below is what they said:

Dear Kim and your entire Daybreak Crew,

Thank you so much for giving up your time to spend the day at our house building me a new ramp. Although Dad tried very hard to accommodate me, he usually did things by cutting too many corners. I never felt safe using the ramp I had.

The ramp built for me today, by the very special “Daybreak Crew” is absolutely beautiful and I will feel very safe using it. I never dreamed I would ever have a ramp looking this nice. I am very grateful for all your hard work and I will be proud to tell everyone who built my new ramp.

I know this isn’t much, but please accept these candles as my way of saying thank you for all your hard work and a job well done. I hope you enjoy them.

Ed Little

As a matter of fact, the Littles told me a story of how, at one point in the past, Ed had fallen off the top of the concrete ramp and ended up strapped upside down with his power chair on top of him. That must have been a scary moment – those power chairs are incredibly heavy.

Kim

This past Sunday Daybreak met at the Holiday Inn “Holidome” because our normal location was used for a fun raiser by the owners of the Delaplaine. We decided to only have one service, and to have all the children (except nursery and pre-school) join us in the service. As we were setting up, an older woman (who we didn’t know) came and started carrying stuff inside our room. We stopped her and asked if she was looking for another church (I didn’t have the heart to let her carry all our stuff in, and then stop her.) She named the church, and we pointed her in the right direction. That Sunday, there were three different churches all meeting at the same location. There were several other snafus similar to this, but you get the idea.

Among our people there were various responses to this fact. Some were excited that three churches were there; perhaps wanting to see the confusion as various people stumbling into the wrong locations. Some were nervous that somehow, there would be some kind of conflict. Others were just excited about meeting in another location. But why is it that we sometimes see other churches as competition, rather than fellow soldiers who are in the same army, who fight the same enemy, and worship the same God?

There was a church who is beginning a new church in our area, and they were meeting there. They had a fleet of various trailers and huge display signs. Instead of thinking they are competition, perhaps we could learn from them, and them from us. I plan to contact their pastor and sit down over lunch to see how we can work together.

If you are wondering about the other church (there were three, right?) – they never showed. We find ourselves in the middle many churches in our area. Some are thriving and exploding, others are dying – I want Daybreak to be apart of bringing churches together for the purpose of working together to reach people for Christ. The sooner we stop seeing each other as competition the better.

Last Monday my father and I visited Harper’s Ferry, WV. It is about ten minutes from my house and I had never been. What made the day memorable (other than having some much needed “dad-time”) was what you get for six dollars. If you have never been, you pay at toll booth style gate, park your car, check out the welcome center – which was manned by at least two people. You are then given a map and encouraged to get on a bus (which was air conditioned and clean) and driven about two miles to the town. There at Harper’s Ferry is a whole town of displays complete with tour guides taking various school groups around through the town. We were even told we could “audit” the group if we wanted. Plaques and things to read are on every entrance, bench, and pathway.

Let me get to the point. I have a job where I am constantly thinking about cost (I know for example how much the four color folding map we were given would cost). Someone has to pay for the person at the gate to take my money, the campus itself, the bus, gas, upkeep, landscaping, personnel, on and on – and we get all this for six dollars!

Who’s paying for all this? Our elected officials feel that the story of Harper’s Ferry is important enough to spend what has to be hundreds of thousands of dollars to let people know the story.

There is a saying that goes something like, “if we do not know our history, we are condemned to repeat it.” I know it’s not the exact quote – but think about a modified version of the quote, “if we know our history, we can build upon it.” We become a better nation when we and our children know what has happened. John Brown is a hero to some, and a hated person of antiquity for others. But he and his story allow our society to move forward, having learned from him. A society moving forward is worth me paying the six bucks.

Knowing your history helps you to build upon the future, whether it be unmentionable or heroic. Just keep moving forward.

Monday evening was our first parent/teacher conference since our move to Brunswick. The school system sent an info sheet home which included some suggested questions and behavior that would make the meeting go smoothly. I found it humorous that they suggested that you compliment the teacher in some way in order to establish rapport.

I think I know where the origins of this piece of paper came from. Some where in the school’s past there had been a string of bad parent/teacher conferences and the basis of the problem was parents coming to the meeting unprepared, upset, uninformed, hurt feelings, etc… and things did not go well. So an administrator somewhere said, “why don’t we put together a list of suggested questions, comments, and how to “talk” with a teacher about their children.”

I just find it a shame that our society needs someone to tell us how to talk to each other. Whatever happened to courtesy, common respect for each other, or even just love for our neighbor?

Kimberly and I left the meeting encouraged, a list of things to work on with our boys, and a renewed high respect for professional educators.

Yes, we did use the sheet of paper, and we did ask some of their questions – it was helpful.