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Vol. #28

Grace Uncovered

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We’re having a baby!

August 17, 2002
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BODY BUILDER

by Major Terry CamseyIt wasn’t planned. It’s just one of those spontaneous, serendipitous events that unexpectedly surprise one and bring a great deal of satisfaction into one’s life. One wonders, in retrospect, that a wheelbarrow as small as the one in question could play such a significant role in this special event.

It’s a few months since we received the small wind chimes as a gift. They were so cute that we immediately hung them up outside our front door. On the top is this miniature wheelbarrow from which dangle a couple of even more miniature garden tools and at one end of which sits an even smaller composite bird. As I say, we hung it up right away and thought nothing further of it.

It is, however, easily seen from the front window of our living room, especially from the seat where my wife normally sits.

This last week or two we became aware that ­ both at the front and back of the house ­ some birds have been active (and somewhat rowdy) flying on and off the eaves. I suggested to Beryl that, maybe, they were looking for a place to nest but there never seemed to be any evidence of that.

We did, notice, however, that the birds fluttering around close to the front door were diminutive humming birds. There are quite a few of these around and they are remarkably bold, not the least afraid to hover right in front of you as if inspecting you carefully.

Beryl thought she saw them carrying bits of “stuff and fluff” as they hovered near the wheelbarrow chimes and, sure enough, as the days went by it seemed as though they were indeed storing this material right in the little wheelbarrow. We wondered, casually, if they were making a nest but dismissed it since the wheelbarrow was surely too small for any bird to sit in it.

We were wrong. A few days later we noticed one of the birds settling on the nest and wriggling her rear end as she tried to make it comfortable. We figured she might be thirsty so we bought one of those special feeders for humming birds that can be filled with the nectar-tasting fluid they seem to love. She took to it right away. Must be rather nice for a bird to have its food right outside its front door.

Now there is little doubt about it. We are going to have a baby if not more than one and, like anxious potential grandparents, we can’t wait to see what they look like and how tiny they will surely be.

It reminded me about the way God’s Word tells us to be anxious for nothing because he will supply all that we need. I especially recalled the way he suggests that since even the birds of the air are taken care of then we shall be too.

Funny how thinking seems to set off a chain reaction, because that thought led me to remember the statement made in 1 Corinthians 12:18 that says, “…God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” He is talking about spiritual gifts and the members in the Body of Christ that is the church. The phrase “every one” suggests that none is missing and that all that are needed have been provided by him.

It is my belief that every church (corps, outpost) has already all the spiritual gifts it needs to grow. The challenge is for us to discover those gifts and, like a spiritual jigsaw puzzle, put those parts together so that they create a living picture of the holistic ministry God has in mind for every single unit. Our difficulties arise when not all the (“pieces of the puzzle”) gifts are “on the table,” or when “some pieces insist on trying to be what they have not been created to be,” or “we try to make our preferred picture of ministry” which may or may not be what God intends.

Just as God unfailingly provides for the birds all that they need, so too he provides for the health and growth of his body…the church.

Just one point…as someone once said to me (and it stuck), “Yes! God certainly feeds the birds, but he doesn’t throw the seed into the nest!” They have a part to play, and so do we. N’est-ce pas?

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