Ripple Effect

I have had several occasions when someone, usually a total stranger, mentioned to me that one of my books completely changed their life. Wow! That is humbling and scary. It's usually someone who read Spilt Grape Juice, which came out in 1991 and redefined worship as a life given in sacrifice to God rather than a one hour assembly on Sunday morning. Back then, that was controversial stuff. Even though it was published by a small Christian publisher (College Press) it still became quite popular just by word of mouth. I think my royalties were enough to pay for one course for one of my three kids at Harding University. Thank God for small things. Still, to have someone declare in person, by phone, by letter, by email, or even in a church bulletin article that something I did changed their life is amazing. Our God is the God of ripple effects.
Yesterday I had a phone conversation with a sister in IL who just got back from visiting family/missionaries in Uganda. She wanted to tell me what a huge hit the Jonah and the Pirates of the Mediterranean DVD was with all the children where they are ministering. She said they watch it constantly and children from all over come to see it, and half of them are Muslim. They have been able to have multiple Bible classes using Jonah's story as the subject. She wanted to know if we had any other DVDs of other plays. I'm sending her our Fiddling On the Ark and The Lord of the Parables DVD and I'll be sending her a copy of Transformers: Saul to Paul when they arrive in early July.
Again, it's mind boggling to think of what God can do with what we do in His name. The ripple effect is one of the most incredible and most ignored characteristics of our Father's plan. We'll never know, in this life, about the many things we've done that God used to touch, teach, and transform others. If you want to see a wonderful biblical example of His ripple effect, just read Acts again from the standpoint of what the ripple effects were starting with the healing of the crippled man at the gate Beautiful in chapter 3. It was an interruption! God used that seemingly isolated act of compassion to cause everything that happened to Peter, John, and all Jerusalem in chapter 4. Touching someone because of God can cause ripples that will not finish until they splash on the shores of Heaven.
I'll never say, "It's just a play."