Momentum

I spent a lot of time today with a young man who has been a guest at the Homeless Shelter in Culpeper. He's a guy who had a wife, job and a life that could be characterized as successful in some's opinion. Through a series of bad decisions, he lost his wife, job and home. For the last couple of weeks, he's been walking around with nothing but the clothes on his back.

When I first met him, something inside me jumped as I recognized the potential that this guy has. He's the kind of person who God just itches to use, and I'm glad I can look at him through "God lenses". In the last several days, I've invested into his life and created some momentum.

I explained to him today how momentum is a powerful, but mostly overlooked concept. When we have momentum (especially after things have been going sour), it seems that a certain confidence carries us to new heights - kind of like the momentum of a rollercoaster going down a steep hill can carry it all the way back up to the peak of the next hill. The other neat thing about momentum is that momentum creates momentum. In other words, all we need is a little shove in the right direction in order to start building up steam. The more momentum we have, the more momentum we build. It's something you can learn in a physics classrooom. The trick is to keep the momentum going. Once it starts to slow, then physics tells us that we're bound to eventually come to a full stop unless we find a way to create some new momentum.

I'm praying that the little bit of momentum God is creating through me will continue to build in this young man's life. Isn't it awesome to think that I could be writing about this guy next year at about this time - all about how he's one of those who are serving the homeless and ministering to them through his testimony? He could be the one God would use to create momentum in someone else's life!