The power of showing up

Yesterday the Steveston Hub participated in a meeting regarding future plans for Steveston Village. It was a great time of conversation and collaboration with Village stakeholders, Tourism Richmond, and city staff, and the Hub may be a part of some incredible initiatives coming up in the Village.

As I reflect on the meeting outcomes, I am aware of the journey that brought us to this point. Jamie and I first came to Steveston almost eleven years ago, and for the past eleven years we have invested our lives into this community.

If I am completely honest, there were times we felt like giving up. We spent years in prayer for people and prayer walking around the Village - and nothing seemed to happen as a result. We saw the church teeter on the edge of folding several times. Other times we felt nameless and invisible to the Village community.

We so desperately wanted to see the church and the Village flourish, but I can remember moments where Jamie and I thought it was pointless for us to continue pastoring here, because it seemed we weren't making a difference. Yet every time we felt that, God did not release us. Instead, we felt the call to persevere, even if it was for God's eyes only.

Eventually this perseverance led to the formation of the Steveston Hub with three other churches almost five years ago, and Jamie and I were encouraged by like-minded people who also wanted to see the Village flourish. Then we moved into our current location (which was an answer to a very specific prayer from seven years earlier). Then Lighthouse Church and Gather Steveston joined together to become Church at the Hub...

...and something began to bloom.

After years of "tilling the soil," along with others like Darren and Crista, I see God working in both our church community and the Village community. I see him in conversations, in "coincidental" bumping in to someone who needs a listening ear or a prayer, in opportunities to be involved in Village life, in small moments of influence, in people who come through our doors and breathe a sigh of relief for finding a safe place.

Yes, God has always been at work, but it's one thing to trust that, and another thing to see it.

For many, many years it felt like very little was happening. Now, small shoots have appeared above ground and are growing. People are finding community at Church at the Hub. The Hub itself is becoming an integral part of Village life and we are able to sow love, kindness, and peace into parts of the Village to which we had no access before.

"Don’t you see? The winter is done.
        The rains and clouds have come and gone.
The flowers are unfolding in the fields;
        the birds are warming up their songs,
The cooing of the turtledove
        is heard throughout the land.
The fig trees are bringing forth their first fruit,
        and the vines are in blossom, filling the air with their fragrance."

~ Song of Songs 2:11-13

Perseverance is slow and steady. In the past eleven years there has been no "massive revival" in Steveston. There is not one catalytic moment I can point to where I might say, "That's where it all happened." But there are many small moments that built on each other to bring us to where we are today, and many more still to come as God's plan continues to unfold.

Small moments aren't really exciting. They don't look great in a fundraising letter. Sometimes they are mundane or imperceptible. It's a continual plodding on, or as Eugene Peterson says, a long obedience in the same direction.

It would be great for a tree to explode out of the ground and grow in one day. It would also be great to take a giant leap to the top of a mountain. But that's not the way those things happen. Rather, they happen slowly, a centimetre at a time, a step at a time, a small moment at a time.

Which means that the most important part of reaching the place God wants us to be is to stay present and persevere. We keep showing up. A day comes and goes, and we show up the next day. We live the small moment, and show up the next day. We struggle with our doubts about the efficiency of God's plan, and show up the next day. We wonder if we are making a difference, and show up the next day.

Your presence is the most important gift you offer.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

Where in life do your dreams and prayers seem pointless right now? Perhaps you've been wanting to see change and transformation in your family, or another relationship, or a workplace, or a circumstance. Perhaps you haven't seen the one-time giant step forward for which you cry out. Perhaps it just seems like the same thing, the same issue, every day with no change.

Show up the next day.

In fact, a better question may be: Where is God calling you to stay present? I encourage you to not give up. Instead, take the tiny step - a kind word, a small prayer, a loving act - even if it seems pointless to do so. They add up.

It's ok to feel discouraged. It's ok to occasionally want to throw in the towel. But don't. Give the gift of your presence to that situation. Yes, there are times God tells us to move on from a situation, but in those cases it is not our decision. 

Our rule of thumb is often "I persevere until I feel like giving up." A better rule of thumb is "I persevere until God clearly says 'Move on'"

Your presence is the most important gift you offer. It may seem like so little, but there is nothing within your control that is more powerful. 

Show up, and keep plodding on.