On Fixing Leaks with Band-Aids

Yesterday I took my youth group to Wild Adventures. As we were heading back to the bus that evening, it started pouring down rain, so much so that one of the windows on our church bus started leaking around the top seal. Being that our bus is pretty old, I wasn't too surprised, however my seventh graders sitting in the seat next to the window weren't too excited about having water drip on them.

So, what to do? How do you fix a leaky window on a giant bus with no tools, no tape, and no mechanical skills?

That's when I kicked into MacGyver mode.

I looked around the bus until I found the only adhesive available--a box of band-aids that looked to be 20 years old. No worries. They were still sticky. Then I snatched an empty cup from one of my youth.

Time was ticking. We could all die at any minute. The lives of these little seventh graders was in my hands, along with an empty Coke cup and some band-aids. So I hurriedly taped together about 15 band-aids, forming a strip of "tape" slapped that cup against the window to catch the dripping, and tacked on a couple of extra band-aids to the top to help hold the cup up.

Just in time. Because it stopped raining about 5 seconds after I taped up my makeshift contraption.

As I looked at my device, I was pretty proud of what I had accomplished (if you know my mechanical skills, you'll understand why...). After all, I had stopped a damaging leak without having the "proper" tools.

Sometimes you might feel that way when faced with many of the situations you encounter throughout life. You feel like you just don't have what it takes to accomplish the task that God has put in front of you. You may feel inadequate or ill-equipped.

Never fear. God never puts you in a situation without giving you exactly what you need to bring him glory in that situation. In simple terms, God calls you to do what you can with what you have for his glory, nothing less and nothing more.

Gideon defeated an army with 300 men. David felled a giant with a rock. Jesus fed 5000 people with 2 fish and some bread. None of these men sat there and questioned God about his supplies for the job at hand. They didn't wait until more came along. They used what God provided them to accomplish his will.

Stop saying you'll serve God when you have more money, more time, more education, more experience, or more stuff. God has put you exactly where he wants you, right now, with exactly what you need to accomplish your task.

Go put MacGyver to shame.