It Takes a Village by Doug Hale

As another afternoon work party drew to a close, I started thinking about all the manpower required to make the cement borders we worked on for the paths around the Antioch campus so these kids will have a beautiful, lasting facility in which to go to school.

Which made me then start to think about all the people who have come before me and will come after me to help build this place, to maintain it, to teach the kids, to cook their lunches, to raise the money to allow the school to exist, to go into the surrounding communities and convince parents to trust the school with their children.  It takes a
village.  The actual villages the kids come from, the village of school employees and our village of short-term missions.  So many layers.  How many layers are there to the village that is raising our kids?  It is incredible to be a part of both.  All this reminds me of a quote often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the true affection of their children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a gard
en patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

Not a bible verse, but powerful stuff.  Perhaps Emerson (or whoever wrote this) was a Godly person.  I think we are succeeding this week.  Thank you God for allowing me a part in all these kids’ lives – Ecuadorean and American.