Sometimes small things turn into big things.
- Puppies and kitties turn into dogs and cats. (Good)
- Children grow into adults. (Also good)
- Silly arguments turn into disassociations. (Bad)
- And on occasion, influence can turn into legacy. (Very good)
This morning my Facebook feed was deluged (in a good way) with photos of high school’ers, suitcases and backpacks in hand, headed for NYC. (No, not New York City…Nazarene Youth Conference — a once every four year event. Sort of like a giant, international youth camp — the kids do service projects, make new friends, hear great speakers and hopefully solidify their walks with Christ.) As I “liked” everyone’s photos I couldn’t help thinking about my parents, about influence and legacy, and about an email I sent to my prayer team eight years ago. It contained a bit of NYC history mixed with a bit of family history.
Looking at all the photos, I knew I had to dig it out and share.
From: Claudine Henry Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 9:13 PM To: Undisclosed Recipient Subject: NYC – from this to this! Hi Friends, As most of you know – I’ve been cleaning out my parent’s home. It’s been really hard. They had a lot of stuff. Raised during the depression of the 30’s they neither one ever threw anything away. I’ve found. . . milk jugs of water filled for Y2K . . . bags of hotel soaps and shampoos saved from their travels . . . old church and school board business meeting notes . . . even a an old BNC (Bethany Nazarene College)1981 NAIA National basketball championship t-shirt. Probably most interesting, and the hardest to go through, has been the hundreds (literally) of Ziploc bags filled with photos, newspaper clippings, and greeting cards. I did find one photo last week that I thought was particularly touching based on what was about to happen. It was just days before Logan, my eighteen year old, was to leave for St. Louis to attend N.Y.C. or Nazarene Youth Congress. There he would join 8000 other Nazarene teenagers from the US and Canada, for the once every four year event. The picture was an old black and white from 1958 – one of those long, oversized photos. It was dated July 16 – 21,1958. It was a group shot from the first ever NYC, then called International Teen-Age Institute Conference. That first year only about 400 students attended. Each student had to go through a screening process to even be chosen. The conference was the dream of Rev. Ponder Gilliland (Pastor G to my local friends.) He had an idea for a conference that would unite youth from all over the world and ignite them to serve Jesus. The first one was held that warm summer in Estes Park, Colorado. Four years later, the name shortened to just International Institute, it was held again. It has been a tradition ever since. My brother attended in 1970. I attended in 1978. Both of us were required to memorize scripture, go through a screening process and be involved on our home district. Each of the church districts allowed only a certain number of attendees. My district when I went only allowed fourteen. In 1987 the conference was split into several worldwide conferences and the restrictions were removed. (A good thing.) At that point it exploded into the event we now know as NYC. When I found that old photo at Mom’s, I just had to smile. You see, my parents were part of the original planning team put together by Pastor G for that first conference. He asked two pastor couples and two lay couples to join him. Mom and Dad were one of the lay couples. I grew up hearing stories about those first two events . . . some funny . . . some sweet.- On the first day they stopped to buy gasoline for the cars and to let everyone have a potty break. The only problem was the bathrooms only had pay toilets and no one had a nickel. So they took turns crawling UNDER the stalls to go to the bathroom. YUK!
- Dad always laughed when he told about the year that they had nearly reached the campground and one of the cars overheated and blew a small hole in its radiator. Another sponsor, Rev. Harold Rains, asked all the teens to hand him their chewing gum. They did and he patched up the radiator and got them to the conference. It was at the event that Dad and Harold solidified their friendship and became lifetime friends. So much so that Daddy spoke at Harold’s retirement years later and Harold spoke at Daddy’s funeral. (He also married Larry and me.)
- Most importantly they told stories of altars filled with teenagers “crying out to God and accepting His call for Christian service.”
Today as over 60 youth and sponsors from my church alone, joined the thousands traveling to NYC, I thought about that photo and all those stories. I was reminded once again that…
- Small things can turn into big things.
- Influence can grow (even when we are gone).
- And when vision and service are offered through the loving arms of Christ, multiplication happens.
How like God to take something so small and grow it into something so big. But then again…he did start with only twelve disciples, didn’t he?
Here are the two photos that make up the original long photo. (My scanner couldn’t get it all.) My dad is the bald guy standing just to the left of the light pole in the first picture. Mom is kneeling slightly to the right of him and is next to Floydene and Harold Rains.
Have you ever been surprised at how God has multiplied something you did?