The Lesson of the Beach Minnow

Last year, during the Meltdown Youth Trip of Kirby Woods Baptist Church, I arose at 5:30 a.m. one day to take a stroll on the beach. It was a perfect morning; hardly anyone was on the beach and the weather was beautiful!

As I strolled across the wet sand, I noticed that the strong tide had pushed a helpless minnow onto the beach, where it was flopping and gasping for breath. Being the tender-hearted person that I am, I delicately scooped the poor creature up and returned him to his ocean home. I felt good about my actions until I took a closer look at the beach.

The tide had pushed hundreds of these minnows onto the sand, and many of them already were dead - - it was too late to save them. There were too many minnows for me to liberate from a dry death, and this was only one beach. Imagine the hundreds of thousands of minnows across all the beaches in Gulf Shores. Eventually, I grew tired and overwhelmed by my task, and returned to the condo.

I've been thinking about the parallel between what occurred on the beach and what happens every day all around us. There are millions of people rushing hopelessly and headlong into a dry death and an eternity without the Living Water. We MUST remember this by being faithful to share the Gospel with them. The task is too big for one person alone, but together our labors are greatly multiplied. Let's be diligent about sharing the Gospel with others!

Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." (Matthew 9:37-38)