The packing list warned: “Hi-Tech clothing is not cheap.” Undaunted, I prepared to face the hostile environment of nature in the Peruvian Alps. I was a part of a trekking team distributing newly translated New Testaments to remote villages located in the rugged Cordilleras Negra.
I arrived there well equipped with tough lug soled, ventilated hiking boots, alloy-tipped hiking stick and polypropylene clothing. I was confident that I had done had done a good packing job and was well prepared.
“I have everything I need--except next time I would throw in one of those towels with compressing properties,” I told the director of missions, adding, “you know the ones, super absorbent but fast drying.” He looked at me, and said, “Don’t think about what you need--think about how to use what you have.”
I looked at him, standing on the mountaintop, dressed head to toe in cotton, wearing second-hand tennis shoes and saw a ready vessel for God—a contented man. Humbled, I started to reflect on familiar Bible stories, a papyrus basket, coated with tar and pitch, a tent peg and hammer, a little oil and empty jars, five smooth stones from a stream, shepherd’s bag and a sling, five loaves and two fishes. God uses possessions and people that are available. I resolved to take the first step necessary to be used by God—be content.
Ecclesiastes 6:7-11
PRAYER: Lord, help me to make the best use of what I have. Make me a vessel ready for the extraordinary by possessing an available and contented spirit; in Christ Jesus my Lord. Amen.
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