Good things often come about by little actions taken over the long haul. Consider the musician who practices 30 minutes a day. Are they a master after a year? No, but 10 years of faithful practice is the path to mastery. Or what about that investment you make toward retirement? Does one month’s worth of investing make a difference? Not substantially. But steadfast investment over a few decades absolutely makes a difference.
As we enter the Christmas season, I am once again mindful of these small investments. Interestingly, Jesus didn’t rescue the world in an instant. He spent 33 years of righteous living and three years of heavy investment in 12 individuals, before laying down his life and entrusting his work into these fearful men. Then what did they do? Invest! They poured themselves out for Jesus Christ and his bride, the church, over multiple years. And where did their investment lead? To the largest religion in the world. To the gospel being spread to almost every tribe and tongue. To churches and Christ-followers spreading his Good News all over the world. It started small. One man, then 12, then 100 . . .
This is how I think of life here at The River Academy. It’s a small investment each day in the lives of 265 students. It’s one teacher taking time to pray for her students. Another teacher taking time to have a conversation with a student who is struggling. It’s 170 Bible lessons a year over a 14 year period. Each of those little actions creates a big result - Christian leaders graduated into our hurt and broken world. And while one could argue that 12 students (the size of this year’s graduating class) are not nearly a large enough group to really change our valley and world, I might point out that it already happened once around 2,000 years ago.
In the same way, investing in our school’s future follows a similar pattern. Will one small gift make that much of an impact? Yes, if many of us give small gifts and do so month after month. That one small gift turns into 12, and then 100. And as we have seen, small things produce big results. For this reason, we are asking all of you to prayerfully consider giving a small amount to support Christian education in our valley during our “Small Things” campaign this December. A small gift each month goes a long way to provide the top-notch Christian education we are providing to our students.
We know you have many options when it comes to which organizations you will support. Thank you for considering The River Academy in your giving.
