The Power of One

By Robert Stearns

Men and women throughout history and today have chosen to make a difference

in their world - both for good and for evil.  Have you ever thought about how the monumental events of history are inextricably linked with the names, faces, and life stories of commonplace, flesh-and-blood people?  No one can tell their children the story of the American Revolution without mentioning the name of Paul Revere.  It's impossible to remember the events of 9/11 without envisioning the passport photos of the 19 hijackers who flew the planes into the Twin Towers that Tuesday morning in New York City.

     Here in Buffalo, as we seek the good of our city, one individual life matters.  One individual's choice makes a difference.  For better or worse, history really does change because regular, everyday people – mothers, fathers, workers, teachers, grandparents – make decisions to use the resources they have been given to effect change in the world around them.  The doors of history hinge on the extraordinary decisions of ordinary people.

Tiny Spark, Great Fire

We all think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the towering prophetic leader of the civil rights movement.  A powerful, well-educated orator, he had the charisma to lead perhaps the most massive social justice movement in our nation's history.  But don't forget that it is Rosa Parks who is nationally recognized as the mother of the modern-day civil rights movement in the U.S.  Born the daughter of a carpenter and a teacher, Rosa grew up to also become a teacher and married Raymond Parks, a barber.  Together, they worked behind the scenes through organizations to improve the conditions of their people.

     Rosa Parks' refusal to surrender her seat to a white male passenger on a Montgomery bus in 1955 triggered a wave of protests that reverberated throughout the country.  The simple, courageous act of a commonplace schoolteacher changed America, its view of African Americans, and redirected the course of world events.

One Life

We tend to think of the lives of those we read about in Scripture as being static; forgetting that they were as real and troubled and complex and flawed as you and I are today.  The biblical Esther is one such character whose life has captured my attention in recent years.  We're apt to focus on the fairy-tale aspects of Esther's story, neglecting to notice the glaring pain and turmoil that marked this young girl's life.

     Esther had three 'strikes' against her, which had the potential to make her life difficult, at best, and quite painful, at worst.  Firstly, Esther was an orphan.  Secondly, she was a woman in a man's world, and last but certainly not least, she was a Jew - three strikes against her in the Persian world of 500 B.C.

     Yet somehow, in a twist of fate that could only be attributed to God, this disadvantaged youth rose to the highest echelons of world power, poised to save her people from complete annihilation at the hands of their enemies.

     Esther, like us, was on a journey.  When she first learned of what was facing her people, she responded in a selfish and cowardly way.  But thanks to her Uncle Mordecai who laid the situation out plainly before her, something clicked into gear for Esther, and she recognized that she was part of a much greater plan, a much greater story.

      She gave up her excuses and determined that, even though she was a nobody, she was a nobody who was going to do something.

Your Life  

So, what are your excuses? Are you too old?  Too young?  Too poor?  Too rich?  Too ordinary?  Too average to do anything that could make a difference in this world?

      Whether or not we are making what we feel is a huge difference in the world around us, we are contributing to the state of the whole either by what we choose to do or choose not to do.  We are either part of the audience or part of the cast; part of the crowd or part of the force.

      God, today – here in Buffalo – is looking for one life to make a difference in a world ever facing greater and greater challenges.  He is looking for one life that He can work through to chart the course for His eternal plan, and through which He can show that He is still on the throne.  Esther's (the orphan queen) was one such life.  Why not yours?