When I was in grade school one of my least favorite subjects was math. I was never very good at it, and to be honest, any time I could get away with it, I tried to cheat my way through! I remember nights of torture sitting with my mother going over and over those multiplication tables until my brain would bleed and I still would not be able to get 7 x 8!
I was reminded of my avoidance of all things math this week. At Oak Ridge we have a room that is dedicated completely to OCC. It's not huge and we cram a lot into this little room. Just about every flat space, and some not so flat spaces, is utilized with unwrapped and wrapped shoeboxes, buckets of soap and toothpaste and tubs all over the floor filled with toys. Throughout the year we shop and add to our stores so that when October rolls around, we are ready to pack! Sometime after VBS we go through and get a count of certain items so we know where we are in relation to our goal.
So yesterday I was out in the church basement in our little room counting and the numbers just weren't coming out right! How could we have that many washcloths? I counted them not too long ago and there's no way my numbers were real! Then I was reminded. God is doing the multiplication; I don't have to.
Every year at some point we leave the natural and enter the Supernatural where God takes over the "math" of OCC. He always blesses. He always performs some miracle ... some "loaves and fishes" moment in the midst of the Fellowship Hall where OCC supplies and toys are everywhere! He never fails. Each October I begin to have those little fingers of doubt. Well, not THIS October! God is going to have each of us touch, purchase for and pack the shoeboxes He already knows He needs from us. Just be faithful. Be available. Be listening and praying.
Put away those multiplication tables, friends. Just sit back and experience the joys of watching God do HIS multiplication. He never forgets 7 x 8!!!
