Three Cups of Tea

Good Tuesday morning, my friends.

I have just finished reading the most incredible book - Three Cups of Tea - about a man named Greg Mortenson.  I am sure many of you have read this, but if you have not I highly recommend it.

In 1993, after a failed attempt to climb K2 in Northern Pakistan, Mortenson became lost and disoriented and ended up in a small, remote, primitive village.  They nursed him back to health, and in response he promised to build them a school for their children.  He made good on his promise, and since then has established 78 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan which have educated well over 20,000 children

This weekend I heard the story of a woman in the Niagara region who put up a Jamaican flag beside a sign that said "Thank You" to indicate her support for the many hundreds of migrant workers from Jamaica who spend anywhere from 6-8 months away from their families each year to help with the fruit crops.  A Jamaican man told her he had been coming there for 18 years and no one had ever said "Thanks" to him before.  He was overwhelmed.  Together they have organized community events that have brought the two cultures together in ways that were never done before in that area.  It started with a church service.  She has since been to Jamaica 5 times, visiting the villages these workers come from.  And the man who commented on her sign has been her driver for every one of those visits.

We do not have to travel to Central Asia or to Jamaica to find someone who could use our help.  But we never know where offering that help may lead.  God has amazing plans for each and every one of us - we just have to open our eyes to the opportunities He presents to us.  And if we miss one, He just gives us another.  (The idea that "opportunity only knocks once" is ridiculous to God!)

Open your eyes today - be able to say, as the man whom Jesus healed in John 9: 1-38:  "I was blind but now I see!"

Amazing Grace and Eternal Peace to you today,

Bruce

LORD, we look forward to being your hands and feet in this world.

There is so much poverty, despair and suffering in far flung regions and close to home.

Please, Father, through your Holy Spirit, remove the veil from our eyes and allow us to see others as you see them.

And please, bless us in our efforts as we step outside our comfort zone to be a blessing to others.

We pray this in your Son's holy name.  Amen.

Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca