Well those of you who know me, know that when it comes to my working life, there are two things that really excite me, ministry and the arts. When God brought me to the intersection of these two fields, I found a big part of His purpose for my life. Well today I watched some very talented people who also live at that intersection. You see, I am blessed to live less than an hour from the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA, and today a bus load of us from my church went to see their production of Moses. These trips are always a blessing. 

I love the Scriptures. I love reading them, studying them and trying to find creative ways of helping people to connect to the truth of God’s Word. Sight and Sound does that masterfully. As someone who has spent a fair amount of time working with school and community theaters, designing and painting sets, I find these productions mind-boggling. The level of creativity used in staging one of these shows confounds my imagination. 

Now I will admit there are times where I find myself coveting just a little. I wonder what I could do with a large team and a huge budget, but I try to pull myself out of those thoughts quickly, and the story of Moses shows why. When God called to Moses in the burning bush, the first thing Moses does is start to do is to make excuses, finding all the reasons he can why he is not up to the task. Moses looks to his insufficiencies to try to turn away from God’s call. 

At one point in Moses list of excuses, this one about, “What if the people don’t believe me?” God asks Moses a very simple question. “What’s in your hand” Now Moses had been a shepherd for over 40 years and he was out tending to the sheep when God called him. What was in his hand was a simple shepherd’s staff. Now from there, God does something amazing and supernatural, and if you want to learn more about that read Exodus chapters three and four. I want to stop at the staff, because I think it speaks to our problem. Moses was looking at all the things he felt he didn’t have as excuses to avoid God’s call, and God in effect says, stop worrying about what you don’t have and focus on what you do have. I think what God is saying is, “Take what you have, place it in my hands and watch what I can do it.” Sight and Sound is fantastic, but you don’t need their budget to serve the Lord. You need to take what you have, the things God has given you and you need to use them faithfully. 

In actuality, that is how Sight and Sound began. A young artist started using his art abilities to share the Gospel. It started with a traveling program utilizing slide projectors, and they did that faithfully and slowly God expanded their abilities and their vision to what the ministry has become today. Don’t compare yourself with others. Don’t look at what you don’t have. Take what God has given you and step out in faithfulness. Do it now!

What’s In Your Hand?