The Power Of The Small
Greetings Foothills family!
David over Goliath. Gideon and the 300 over thousands of Gideonites. Elijah over the prophets of Baal. A boy's five loaves and two fish vs. 5000+ starving stomachs. Over and over in Scripture, we see the power of God's goodness in the small, the tiny.
God has planned great things for you to do, and those great things, more often than not, may appear like small things to us. If you find yourself doubting the power of the small, I share this story from Michael Yaconelli's book Messy Spirituality with you.
During the last months of World War II, the British conducted daily bombing raids over Berlin. The bombers would take off from an airstrip in England and fly surrounded by smaller fighter planes whose job it was to keep German fighters from attacking the bombers, which were easy targets.
One night after a successful bombing raid, as they were heading for the safety of England, the bombers were attacked by a large group of German fighter planes. Somehow, during the dogfight, one bomber found itself flying alone with no protection, and suddenly, a German fighter appeared out of nowhere. The crew of the bomber watched as the German plane moved closer and closer, until finally, it was in range. They prepared for the worst and watched helplessly as tracer bullets began spitting from the fighter. Bullets whizzed by them, over and under, until Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Five bullets slammed into the fuselage of the bomber near the gas tank. The crew braced for the explosion, but nothing happened. They could see fuel pouring from the bullet holes, but there was no explosion. Miraculously, they were able to make it back to their base and get safely off the plane.
A few hours after they had landed, one of the mechanics showed up in the crew’s barracks. He had found five bullets inside the fuel tanks, crumpled but not exploded. He handed them to the pilot. The pilot carefully opened the shells and to the crew’s amazement found each one empty of gunpowder. Inside one was a tiny wad of paper. When he unfolded the paper, he found a note which read, “We are Polish POWs—forced to make bullets in factory. When guards do not look, we do not fill with powder. Is not much, but is best we can do. Please tell family we are alive.”
The note was signed by four Polish prisoners of war.
Five tiny bullets, out of millions and millions of bullets made during the war, made all the difference for the crewmen of a British bomber.
What a powerful story! By the way, (I imagine) that's the same thoughts the heavenly hosts have towards you, when you are doing good for the kingdom, no matter how small you believe your acts to be. May you not weary in doing good!
And remember, God is for you, God is with you, and God loves you!
Pastor Chris
