What we have

How many times in our lives and in our churches do we focus on what we lack instead of what we have been given? I read this article in Ministry Today Magazine and God really spoke to me through it, so I wanted to pass it on to you.

Stories abound these days of leaders attempting to do

more with less. Whether it’s facing shrinking teams or dealing with dwindling budgets, we can either run from the challenge or to it. Ernie Schenck is no stranger to adversity. The author of The Houdini Solution challenges us to think inside the box, not outside the box, when it comes to doing more with less: “The legendary magician did his best work shackled, and cuffed and chained inside the smallest of boxes—and yet he managed to find his way out every time.”

Lately I’ve found myself retelling a story from the famous Apollo 13 mission about doing more with less. There’s a scene in the 1995 movie starring Ed Harris when the crew on the ground in Houston has to build an air filter that will allow the crew stuck in space to increase their oxygen supply. With limited resources (only what was onboard the spaceship), the crew on the ground had to figure out how to fit a square peg in a round hole. It was a critical point in the story because it forced people to find solutions for problems with less-than ideal resources to achieve success.

I’m inspired by moments like these as many Christians today find themselves in a similar spot. It’s not time to complain about what we don’t have or dream about better scenarios. It’s time to for Christians to get on the same page with the same urgency for the same mission. Anything less could be catastrophic.

www.ministrytodaymag.com