I remember growing up spending the bulk of our summer fishing.  Our grandparents would often spend hours preparing for our single-day excursions: Reels and rods had to be readied, tackle boxes stocked, food and beverages prepared to nourish us for the entire day and proper clothes for the environment laid out.  We’d gone on so many trips that the preparation process had become ritualistic for both the adults and for the children.  We all knew what was required for a successful trip.

But I remember one beautiful Friday morning that dawned following a continuous 2-day downpour.  Our grandfather left early for work, but told my grandmother that it was too wet to go fishing at our favorite spot – Davidsonville. We sat disappointed; wondering what the day would hold for us since our long anticipated fishing trip had apparently been washed out.  My grandmother’s disappointment was just as visible as ours.  I remember our excitement growing as we watched her fulfill the final preparations AFTER he’d left for the day.  She hadn’t said a word, but her behavior told us we were going to Davidsonville.  We were so happy to be going fishing in our favorite spot that none of us gave any thought to our grandfather’s warning.

What started as a joy-filled morning quickly began to turn sour.  As we slid precariously through the trees and around the man-made lakes, we began to appreciate the wisdom behind our grandfather’s words.  Our grandmother was quiet, but the concern on her face told us that she also had gained a full appreciation for his wise words.  It was when we felt the back end of my grandfather’s 1971 blue on blue Ninety Eight Oldsmobile sliding off the road towards the nearest lake that all pretense of calm vanished.  She quickly got us out of the car and we stood looking as she repeatedly tried to drive out of that mud hole.  With every spin of the tire, the tire sunk deeper into the mud.

Our despair visibly apparent on our faces, we watched our grandmother carefully open the driver’s side door and exit the car.  We wondered what she would do next.  We were astonished when she pulled her rod and reel out of the trunk of the car and headed towards a different man-made lake TO FISH!  We stood whispering amongst ourselves, knowing that the one thing we shouldn’t do was follow her.  It was many years later that she told us that she had no idea what to do, so she decided to go off by herself and pray.  The fishing gear gave her an excuse to seclude herself from our watchful eyes as she humbly, in repentance, asked God to bail us out.  I don’t know how long we stood around; I do know we didn’t dare touch that car!  We were all saturated in the spirit of fear:  Would our grandfather’s car end up at the bottom of the lake?  How were we going to get home?  What would our grandfather do when he discovered that we hadn’t obeyed his instruction?

It was with great disbelief that we watched our grandmother return to us carrying 2 large carp and wearing an ear-to-ear grin.  She opened the trunk, placed the carp in the cooler and asked, “Ready to go?” as she pulled out 2 old, smelly burlap mail bags:  The same 2 bags that my grandfather had been religiously carrying around for months; the same 2 bags that smelled horrible and appeared to us to serve no purpose whatsoever; the same 2 bags that we’d all begged him to throw away and he’d adamantly refused; the same 2 bags that we had never wanted became our salvation out of the mud hole.  What we had discounted, devalued, ignored, pushed aside and finally forgotten about suddenly became the most important thing in the whole world.  She jammed one of the old, smelly mail bags down beside and in front of the sunken tire.  Her familiar ‘load up’ sprung us into immediate action.  After we’d safely entered the car, she eased her foot down on the gas pedal and drove us right out of that mud hole and straight to the car wash.

I hadn’t thought about that smelly old mail bag in a very long time, but when I did, it blessed me yet again. Sometimes we get treated just like that smelly old mail bag – people devalue us, they discount us, they ignore us, they push us to the side, they forget about us.  But we were created by God on purpose, for purpose and with purpose.  And it often happens that when we have been greatly despised, that God orders a turn and we become greatly valued; someone will look at us and see not what we used to do, not what we used to be; but they see what God intended, they see that we have usefulness beyond our past – they see His purpose!

Paul offers us a great example of this change in value with his comments concerning John Mark.  In Acts 15:37-40, scripture records, “Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark.  But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.”  Paul was so against taking John Mark with them on this journey that he separated himself from Barnabas.  To him, there was no purpose in Mark joining them; he added no value, and in Paul’s eyes, was not worthy of the opportunity.  Over time his view changed and he later saw John Mark not as the deserter he had been in the past, but as the great help that he was now.  “Only Luke is with me. “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.” (II Timothy 4:11) John Mark’s past was no longer relevant.  His status changed from devalued to valuable because of purpose.

God will also change our status at the appointed time according to His plan for His ultimate glory.  Like the smelly, old mail bag, it doesn’t matter that we appear to have been forgotten; it doesn’t matter that others devalue us; it doesn’t matter that we’re hidden in a place where we’re not often seen.  When we endure every circumstance believing God’s word concerning us, we position ourselves to override discrediting voices and to be Powered by Purpose! Our strength comes from God to fulfill the will of God bringing glory to God!