14 days

  

14 days is not so long.  14 days doesn’t seem like enough time to truly make an impact.  Mix in the fact that several of those 14 days will be spent traveling from one place to another and one wonders what kind of impact can be made in 14 days. 

It started with a vision.  A vision from God given to Pastor Robert of the Good Hope Church of the Nazarene for a place where the people of the community surrounding the church could be feed spiritually, mentally, emotionally and even financially.  The Church of the Nazarene in Idaho Falls, Idaho became a part of making that vision a reality for two weeks.  A team of 16 people joined together with Pastor Robert’s vision, the people of the church and the surrounding community and a whole lot of God’s grace worked together. 

Master brick layers we were not.  However we did get to watch a master at work.  Tony the brick machine (as the team nick named him) is a gentleman from Hazyview who is working to start his own brick laying business.  We were able to assist Tony in starting the work on Pastor Robert’s vision.  By the time the team left two classrooms were almost done and the other two were well on their way to being done.  The Idaho Falls Team also had a VBS on three different afternoons.  They were able to love on the kids of the community as well as tell them about the Love of Christ. 

We also were able to accompany the team to Kruger Park and see some amazing animals and scenery.  God is truly a wonderful artist.  We were able to see all of the Big 5 as well as lots of Giraffes, Monkeys, Baboons, Hippos, Crocodiles, Birds of all kinds and lots of Impala and Kudu. 

14 days is not really a long time but when joined together with a vision, a group of amazing God loving, hard working people, and God then what is done in 14 days can have eternal results.    Rev. Mashangu (the FSC for our field) said it best: when he told the team that they “left their fingerprints on the community and the people of the Good Hope Church; and the community and the people of the Good Hope Church left their fingerprints on the hearts and lives of all of the team.” 

So this week don’t worry about how much time you have or how much you have to do.  Worry about leaving lasting fingerprints on those you come in contact with. 

Until next time:  Word to the wise when unlocking the back of the van; be sure not to break the key off in the lock or if you do make sure you have someone who can fix it.