Something To Smile About
By Robert Gabrielse, Mobility Ministries
God gave us hands, to be His hands on earth and do His work—work to bless and honor Him. He gave us minds and skills to find ways to make our hands more efficient—and we invented tools. He gave us neighbors in every country in the world so we can be His hands everywhere. But some of our hands are empty because we really don’t care to do His work for Him; some are “empty” because we fill them with wasteful things or useless activities; some are empty because we feel worthless or powerless or totally inadequate or unable to be productive; and some are empty, because there are no tools to use to be more productive for doing God’s purposes.
The Malawi Project identified the need for tools in Malawi and other emerging countries as a priority. There are hundreds of thousands of people with empty hands who have the longing to be productive, to provide for themselves, to provide for family members, to provide for others created and loved by God, to provide for their communities, to show love by doing . . . . but they can’t do much—their hands are empty. They do what they can, as best as they can, and as much as they can; tools don’t just add to their productivity—they multiply their productivity.
Just imagine pounding nails into boards for a roof over your head—by using a stone; cutting wire for your fence—by bending it for several minutes till it breaks; or cutting a board—with a pocket knife. One hammer, one wire cutter, one hand saw, one whatever. . . . would make their tasks go ten times or a hundred times faster. All they need is one hammer to make those God given hands so much more productive, or one wire cutter, or one saw . . . . many of us have 7 hammers, 23 screw drivers, 6 wire cutters, 12 pliers, 3 socket sets, etc. Hands can only use 1 tool at a time! Many don’t even have one tool! Many of us have literally hundreds of tools even though we can only use one at a time also.
Today we have the capability to ship hundreds or thousands of pounds of tools to Malawi in Shipping Containers, something not readily available until now. Volunteers at Mobility Ministries in DeMotte, Indiana were challenged by the Malawi Project to look at their stock of tools at home; they sorted out good used tools and brought them as gifts to be shipped to Malawi. Some merchants made new tools available at wholesale cost; and some churches publicized the need, and the tools flowed out from church members. One widow called and asked us to sort through her late husband’s tools, saying he would have had tears in his eyes if he could know where his tools were privileged to go. A wood worker dropped off 3 hand saws, and another worker carried in a tool box with 94 pounds of tools.
God-given hands, filled with gifted basic tools, makes the Recipient and God smile!