Jesus, I pounded the pavement for about thirteen thousand steps today in a new pair of asics, walking into Sandy Springs to get a new library card. On the way I neared the end of an audiobook titled 'The Triumph of Christianity' by Bart Ehrman. Ehrman is an atheist, yet he recognizes the impact upon the world that the faith for which you are its namesake has had. Still, his intent is to use natural and rational reasons to explain why Christianity spread as it did, from its early days where, within the barbarism of the Roman empire, a group of eleven followers and a few women grew into a faith that today comprises two billion adherents.
And while I'm certain there are natural and rational reasons why it spread as it did, I'm just as certain that your hand was involved in the way history has unfolded, a ripple effect of sorts from one seemingly meaningless drop of your life into the pool of ours here which spread outward in large circles in all directions. I find peace right now that my life - in a very small way - is having a positive ripple effect on those around me. In the past the more appropriate metaphor would have been a string of dominoes, and I would be the first one falling at the front, only to knock down all the others in rapid succession. And when it was over everyone just lay there horizontal, motionless and quiet.
Small waves upon the surface of the pond seem a much more positive reflection of how each day I can do little things that probably have effects of which I am not even aware. Still it all harkens back to your initial step into the great sea of humanity here, changing forever the motion on its surface.
Me? I'm just riding on the waves.
Amen.
