Construction In Progress

"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 2 Peter 1:8

There is an old saying that says, " A man don't know nothing he hasn't learned."

In other words, we all start at the same level and build. Even genius relies on the data given it. Shakespeare used play books, Mozart used overtures from previous pieces of music. This does not diminish what they have achieved but points out that they have built on the work of someone/something else.

This was what I read on Monday morning in my devotions and for some reason it just stayed with me. I didn't know why to start with but then I started work. On Monday I was archiving photos and videos from the past 5 years. Burning them to disks, then deleting them from the computers. Alfons, the director of Rehoboth starting talking about me carrying on from where their previous "archiver" had left it.

And then it clicked.

My work here at Rehoboth, whatever it is, is carrying on the good work started by someone before. My archiving of the photos was started by someone else and now the baton has fallen to me to carry it on. Like the devotional reading said, it doesn't diminish from what I am doing, but rather just acknowledges those who started it. On Tuesday, Nicholas ( a Rehoboth worker) and myself started lashing steel together for the foundations of a building. What we were doing wasn't anything new. It's something that has been done on every building of Rehoboth. We weren't doing anything that hasn't been done before but rather carrying on the building work that others set into motion.

I shared my epiphany with Nicholas who was only to happy to listen and only to obliging to tell me his thoughts. He told me that it didn't matter for him that it wasn't anything new. He was happy to have work and he made the very shrewd point that if we weren't continuing where others left off, would we know what to do? Would we know where we were going wrong or where we should be going?

The same can be said for the early church. The disciples, charged with the task of taking the word of God to the four corners of the world were carrying on what Jesus had started. Paul, so instrumental in taking the word of God to many people, was doing the work that Jesus had begun. And so it carried on. Through characters such as Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door in Wittenburg, or Charles Wesley getting saddlesore taking Methodism across England. These people were not doing anything brand new, never before seen. They were simply carrying on the commision of Christ. And that is what we are called to do as Christians. We need to be taking the baton willingly for the next leg of the journey. We will die and someone else will take over from us and do the work we were doing. Our work isn't useless or not needed, far from it. We are important in being here for this leg of the journey.

In my interaction with the kids I think the same. I am here, carrying on the work of someone else, e.g. looking after and caring for the kids, but the fact that I'm carrying it on is so important. One instance that comes to mind is from last year. Sally Leat and Steve Carrick both became extremely attached to one girl who was very ill here at Rehoboth. In the two weeks we were here with the church, Sally and Steve spent so much time with this girl, playing with her, trying to make her smile, make her happy. And looking back I see my work here as carrying on the work they were doing, as now it is my job to make the kids happy, make them smile. I'm simply building on what they did.

Until Next Week


Rob


"Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall"