The Star Thrower
I can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengthens me.Philippians 4:13
The burden is great: sickness, suffering, accidents, poverty, starvation,
tragedy abounds all around us. In the medical clinic, it frequently seems like
endless days and endless crowds of patients waiting to be seen. It is so easy to
get overwhelmed. At times like this, I remember the story ,"The Star Thrower",
written by Loren Eiseley in the 1960's. Allow me to paraphrase the story and
share it with you: In the northeastern United States, along the coastal region
of Maine there was a great northeastern storm which blew in. For many days, the
mighty winds roared, seas churned and the waves crashed upon the beach. Finally,
the storm cleared and calmness returned. A man went for a walk on the beach to
survey the damage and to see what had washed ashore. As he was walking down the
beach, he saw thousands of starfish washed up all over the beach along with many
shells and miscellaneous treasures from the ocean. As he looked further down the
beach, he could see a man walking towards him. The man would walk up to the dry
sand, pick something up, wade out into the ocean, throw it into the ocean, and
then return and do it again. He would do this over and over and over again.
Finally as he got closer to the man, he could see what he was doing. This man
was reaching down, picking up a starfish, wading out to the ocean and throwing
it back into the ocean. Walking up to the man, he asked - "What are you doing,
how can you possibly think you are going to make any difference? There are
thousands and thousands and thousands of these starfish washed ashore." The man
calmly looked at him, smiled, reached down, picked up one starfish, walked out
into the ocean, and threw it back in. He turned to him and with a smile said,
"Made a difference to that one." To me that is the way we need to look at life.
We need to reach out to one soul at a time, one individual at a time, one life
at a time. If we look out and see the magnitude of that which is before us, it
is easy to get overwhelmed. If we do as Jesus did, seeing each as an individual
and take one life at a time, that is a Godly perspective.
Mike McMahon
Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time
we will reap the harvest if we do not give up. Galatians
6:9
Prayer Power
Lord, help me to never give up in working for you and your kingdom and to
reach out to try and touch one life at a time. In Christ's name, Amen.