One Step at a Time
What do an ultra marathoner, a Proctor and Gamble chemical engineer, and a Port-au-Prince priest have in common? Ultra marathoner Tim Borland ran 63 marathons in 63 days last year to raise awareness for Ataxia-telangiectasia, or A-T, a progressive and degenerative disease that affects a variety of body systems. When asked how he did it he answered, "One step at a time."
Chemical Engineer Nancy McCarthy developed a digestive aid, which she was convinced could help millions of people. But when Proctor and Gamble ran their financial analysis in 2004, the results showed the financial impact to be too low for development. McCarthy and her team came up with some untraditional marketing channels that eventually proved positive as the product Align now is a huge financial success. How did Nancy and her team overcome the P&G bureaucracy? One step at a time!
Journalist Margaret Trost has been involved in feeding Haiti's hungry people for the last eight years. She writes in her recently released book, On That Day Everybody Ate, that she discovered an opportunity to help a priest in Port-au-Prince. Together they started a lunch program for the very hungry children, who inhabit this poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Trost was encouraged by Priest Jean-Juste, whose faith and optimism seemed able to overcome any obstacle:
"One step at a time, Margaret," he said as he was taking her to the airport after one of her visits. "In Haiti, sometimes they are very, very small steps. Sometimes we go backward. But it's important to keep taking steps, even though they are small. Never lose hope. Never give up. One day, maybe not during my lifetime, but one day, we will get there."
I don't intend to compare my situation to the great things accomplished by Borland, McCarthy, or Jean-Juste. However, I am daily aware that my future will be accomplished just one step at a time. And each day I wake up ready and willing to do all I can on that day to move myself forward just one more step.
It's so easy to focus on what I don't have. I have no salary. In two weeks, I'll have no health insurance. And when I think this way, I get overwhelmed. But then I think of what I do have. Sure I don't have a salary, but I have all day to focus on my dreams. Sure I don't have health insurance, but unlike last year at this time, I have my health! I'm in better shape than I've been in for years, which has the benefit of allowing me to work hard all day long.
Then I start getting excited about what else I have. Incredible opportunity! I am no longer a pastor of a 2,000 person church. But there are 70,000 people in my county, who don't have a pastor at all! Beyond that, daily I get to share a Bible study with the entire world. I realize I'm not responsible to reach everyone. Just those God sends my way. But the opportunity is so big, so grand, that sometimes I cannot sleep at night wondering what God might be about to do with me.
So if you feel the inclination to pray for me, please do. Pray that God would direct me exactly where He wants me and that I would keep my life obedient to Him so I hear God when He speaks. If you feel like writing me a note or a comment to encourage me, please do so. I really do appreciate everything you send my way. But don't feel sorry for me. Each day, I'm having the time of my life doing all I can... one step at a time! Talk to you again tomorrow, Mark
