A Sea of Greatness (WR)

...(ANNOUNCER VOICE) "Previously on this blog... you read things (allegedly)... here are more things... I promise."

This, once again is a little late, but it’s a part of the journey that “needs” to be shared.  I spent a second week in “Daughter Russia.”  This time I moved a little to the south and a little less to the east to a little place I can’t spell in any language, but if I had to give it a shot I’d say Slovodzeah,  but again… I’m pretty sure I just butchered that like a madman.

In terms of “ministry,” this wasn’t some extreme mission.  We spent time with some teenagers from the church and painted in an orphanage, unless you are talking to the Narnian government, in that case the orphanage is closed, because they don’t like Christians taking care of children.  But the things we were doing weren’t “extreme” by any means, not “life-changing” things in and of themselves, but then again it’s learning to serve God and others in the simple things that is most practically sustainable across the board.



If we need some sort of extreme mission, or if we define how we are used by God as something that builds lots of emotions in us we really begin to serve ourselves and worship that “feeling” of helping more than worshiping our Savior by loving as He has called us to.

People spend their lives looking for the wow-factor, but the greatest lives of service often go unheralded.   If we want to be great in life (and who doesn’t?) we must be great in the small simple things, and okay with people not appreciating.

A great life isn’t made up solely of a small number of mountain top experiences, or one great achievement.

A great life is made up a lots of small decisions made well and in love, seeking to represent our Savior and serve others above self, and that’s often not going to “feel” or seem as noteworthy in the moment, but that’s the way to have a life full of moments to look back on with a deeper satisfaction.

True greatness is often unheralded.  That’s partly true because greatness doesn’t seek acclaim or recognition.  Greatness doesn’t need marketing, (says the guy with a marketing degree), it represents itself and those fortunate enough to notice or be a part of it are blessed indeed.  It is doing the right thing and serving out of obedience springing from thankfulness and joy, rather than just what outcome we think it might yield from others.

When you look at true unheralded greatness in the lives of others it humbles you.  The second half of my Trans ni strian fortnight  this is what happened to me.  I was, once again, humbled.  The ladies were shacked up in the orphanage, while the dudes were holding down mattresses in the floor of a small church’s office about a 20 minute walk away.

The church is also home to 4 men right now, 2 of which are in drug rehabilitation, and 2 of which are mentoring them.  These men served us at least as much, if not more, than we served their community… oh and they humbled me...

We’ve been served a lot this year.

Everywhere I’ve been I’ve been fortunate enough to come across giving people and wonderful contacts.  Nothing could ever be said to discount the blessings the our contact Pastor Alexey and others have been to us throughout this year, but there was something different about these guys, in particular Alex and Sergei, the two mentors there.

The difference begins in their role, they weren’t our contacts, we just happened to be staying at the same place as them.  They had no duty to serve us, no reasonable expectation.  After all, we were Pastor Alexey’s problem, and, if anything, we were in the way of their work and sleep.  Though it would have been reasonable to assume we were no concern of theirs, they made us breakfast, honey, and tea nearly every morning and then working dishes often too.   But true greatness goes beyond what’s reasonable and often seems unreasonable.

True greatness doesn’t use words like fairness and reasonable as a standard, but merely as an afterthought lost in a sea of grace, mercy, truth, love and service.  There is some overlap in the words in this “sea,” meaning some of them define or give birth to others, but they each hold such weight, they needn’t be unlisted for fear of redundancy.  Nor is this “Sea of Greatness” exhausted in these words, but they make up a substantial portion to be certain.

Heck these guys didn’t even really speak our language.   If we wanted to communicate we just worked thru random pointing and the bits of Russian/English we knew respectively, and for more complex thoughts we rocked out a little Google-Translate.

We weren’t helping them specifically, so there was no need for them to serve us out of thankfulness to us specifically. They just served out of obedience and thankfulness to their Savior.  It was so moving to see this gentle giant, Sergei, so meekly serve and invest in the lives of these other grown men, both older than him, even down to the menial tasks of dishes and cleaning.  And you could feel the thankfulness and respect they had back for him.


Then he finds the time to serve and lead them in serving us with such care as well, with it seeming neither forced or an inconvenience for him.  And did I mention this guy was a recovered drug addict himself?

God had taken this man from being so messed up on drugs that he literally cut up his arms and cut 2 of his own fingers off, to a gentle giant giving his life to other men, and then serving 3 American dudes who have far more than he has by the world’s standards.

So as much as this man impressed me, it impressed me even more with a God that could make this change, and made me even more thankful to know that same God loves me.  And that is what our lives are supposed to do…

We are great in the small things, not to develop an awesome reputation, or even to genuinely have a good life, but to point others to our Savior, and a subsequent thankfulness and joy in Him, which then pushes them to lives of greatness for the same reasons with the same outcomes.  But even when the outcomes aren’t what we envision, we don’t carry that weight, because we are great in the small things for the sake of the glory of our Lord and King, not whether others appreciate it.  And when we understand this we can begin to freely swim deeper and deeper in the Sea, and if we drown, we drown, because in life we all must exit, we may as well make it a great one.