It was early morning. On the beach was an elderly man. He walked with a cane, carefully surveying the beach that the receding tide had left exposed. Every now and then he bent to pick something up and toss it into the ocean. I watched with fascination as he carefully scanned the beach before him. It was then that I realized he was looking for starfish. Every time he saw one lying helpless in the sand, unable to get back to the ocean on its own, he would lovingly pick it up and toss it gently back into the sea. Curious as to why he was doing this, I approached him. He told me, "The starfish are left behind after the tide goes out. If they don't get back into the ocean they will dry up and die beneath the hot summer sun."
"But there are endless miles of beach and there must be millions of starfish," I said. "Surely you don't think you can save them all. What difference can your efforts possibly make?" Slowly the old man bent over and picked up another starfish. As he tossed it into ocean he looked at me and said, "It makes a difference to that one."
I was deeply touched by this story. How easy it is to become so discouraged by the sheer magnitude of the task that Christ has set before us that we fail to focus on the value to Him of each one. We are called to be faithful in scanning those "beaches" and in making a difference to "that one" and "that one" and "that one" in the name of Christ.
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