Wednesday, December 13, 2006

The Body At Work

Hello All,

Isn't amazing how a day can turn out and what you might be thankful for at the end of that day? Today, I am very grateful for the wisdom of the Lord in assembling the body of Christ in the way that He has. I would refer you to read Paul's treatise on this subject found in I Corinthians 12 in it's entirety, but I will quote just this small portion for you.

"But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?" (v.18,19)

Let me explain now what happened. This morning, my precious, sweet innocent daughter Elizabeth was seen playing near the keyhole of our front door. "What harm could a two year old do?" Well, it turns out that she put a staple into the keyhole, which prevented us from putting our key and locking the door from the inside. The outside was unaffected, but the inside was a problem. Fast forward to the afternoon. Carlos has been coming over and getting up to speed on one of my personal favorite programs: iTunes! I have been helping him with his teaching library, his iPod and the acquisition of free podcasts. (His favorite are two French language acquisition podcasts, which will be very helpful in Morocco.) It has been a joy to be able to help him out and sitting there with him for a few hours in the afternoon working on our computers is real fun for me. On his way out, just two hours before Wednesday Night Service, I mentioned our keyhole situation to him. He took a little piece of wire out of his wallet and began to work on it. In the process, the lock gave way and broke entirely. We are now an hour and a half from service. Carlos at this point goes into action. Of course, he knows where to get the parts and it must be replaced before service or else Lela cannot leave the house, a prospect that would not win any awards for popularity, especially with 3 kids at 5 and under! So we made our way out to purchase the lock.

Several things must be said here. First, the lock in question is not made in wide circulation any long
er. Second, there are three possible places where we might purchase said lock. Third, if we fail, a locksmith could be called for a very expensive repair. Oh, and it's an hour and 15 to service now!

At the store we went to first, the owner brings out the very last model of the lock that we need! Carlos gets it installed with his usual mechanical genius and we have an hour to spare before service!

What if God had placed two computer guys in this predicament? Or if he had two mechanical people in the same house with no idea what to do with a computer? If we were both musicians, we could write a song about how depressed the expensive locksmith made us, but little else would have been accomplished.

Later in the evening, another gifted member of our body, Carmen, presented our family with a handmade costume for Renae's school play that is coming up next week. (Renae will be playing a tree! Pictures will be posted exclusively here on this site of course!) It is so well done, her handiwork, her giftedness such a blessing to us. Just the fact that she was able to discern from the picture reference that the school gave us how to make the costume baffles my mind.

Now, I am sure that there are some out there who think that they could make a Christmas tree outfit for someone or that they can change a complicated door lock or work a program like iTunes. My challenge is that you would. Fulfill your calling. Find where and how you can be a blessing. There is no greater joy than to bless and function in this thing called "The Body Of Christ." Today, I am so thankful to God for His wisdom in creating such a wonderful entity. Now, if we could only find a full time nanny with a gift for corraling 2 year olds with a penchant for keyhole madness!Any takers?

Blessings To The Friends Of Spain,
Frank Sanchez

2 comments:

Verhoeven5 said...

Thank you for reminding me of the gifts God gives aren't for us to be selfish with, but to share with whoever needs it! Praise the Lord!
Melanie

Frank And Lela said...

Hola Verhoevens!

Yes and let me say that this church is truly one of the most charitable groups of people I have ever met. Carlos sets the tone, as he is always the first to look for a way to help, but the rest truly follow their Pastor's lead example. They are truly a commendable group of people. I wish I could talk about all the times that Domingo has given us a ride when our car broke down, or when Yolee and Yolanda have escorted us downtown to various places that we needed to go. These things have been a major blessing to us and we can never thank them enough for their good graces toward us.

Thanks for checking in with us.

Blessings,
F.S.