Living as Apprentices

Sometimes you find wisdom in the oddest places!  I have to admit that I love TV shows like Undercover Boss and Secret Millionaire. Privileged men and women journey into worlds they have only heard about and learn what life outside the bubble is really like by working alongside the unknowns in their companies or by volunteering with organizations serving as helping hands to their communities. The premise of both of these shows is that the “stars” remain anonymous until the end and then re-visit the people they have met with checks for thousands of dollars in their hands to bestow on them.

Flooding resulting from Hurricane Katrina (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recently I watched a young African American CEO of a very successful tech start up who left his luxurious apartment in NYC to volunteer in areas of Louisiana still in ruins because of Hurricane Katrina.  He volunteered for a church-sponsored organization and then visited the church itself. There he met the pastor, a weathered black man with a gentle manner and a moving story of how one of the other pastors of the church  drowned  in the flood and how his congregation is attempting to rebuild its church and the surrounding area.  The young CEO was visibly touched by the story.

When it was time for him to leave, he visited the church, revealed who he really was, and gave the director of the community- based agency $30,000  and the pastor $20,000 for his church.  All of that was enough to cause my tears to flow; I’m a sucker for these kinds of programs!  But it is the pastor’s words of thanks to his new young friend that have really have stuck with me.  (Fortunately, this program was” DVR’d” so I could catch the exact quote.)

With tears in his eyes he said, “There’s a season for everything, and when it appears that something is missing, the reality is that it’s on the way.”

What a beautiful description of our role in God’s caring for his people!  Look around you.  There is something missing in someone’s life, and God’s plan may be that you are on the way!