Scripture: I Kings 17:8-24; Luke 7:11-17

Many of you know the story behind my love for music. For those of who don’t, well . . . there was a time when I dreamed of being a professional violist. Actually, I started out on the violin.   Then one day while I was practicing, my brother Randy suggested to Mom that perhaps I should try the viola. Mom asked why he thought that would be a good idea. He replied:  A viola doesn’t have an e string. Mom’s immediate response was:  Where can we find one?

It wasn’t long before she actually located the ¾ size instrument I needed. When the string teacher suggested that I was a good candidate for private lessons, Mom didn’t hesitate in asking if he could direct her towards the right person. By my sophomore year in high school, I was actually playing alongside professionals from the Kansas City Symphony. 

Now Mom and I both knew that I was not going to pursue a degree in music. So we agreed I would continue taking private lessons and play with any orchestra or string quartet that would have me. It was a compromise that worked . . . at least for me.  

One night a group of us decided to skip out on yet another lovely cafeteria dinner and go for pizza. We weren’t very far from the campus when someone stepped out in front of our car. The driver swerved and slammed on his breaks. I was riding in the front seat and threw out my hands. We missed the pedestrian, but my fingers hit the dashboard.

In place of going for pizza, we ended up in the emergency room where my suspicions were confirmed. My left hand – the hand that is used to finger an instrument – had sustained a rather severe injury. There was no doubt it would heal. But my viola playing days were over. 

One impulsive decision on our part, one thoughtless moment on the pedestrian’s part and suddenly, everything had changed.

That’s just the way life is! We make one choice . . . one decision . . . after another. Most of them are so insignificant we don’t give them a second thought. Yet, days, weeks, or maybe even years later, we realize the true impact some of those “unimportant” choices had on our lives. Like ripples on the pond caused by the toss of a pebble, the cumulative effect kept growing and spreading.

The story of the prophet Elijah is a prime example of this ripple effect. When we first meet him, he has been sent by God to warn King Ahab that because of his evil and unscrupulous behavior, the nation would experience a severe drought. 

Ahab, no doubt, found this warning quite funny. After all, Elijah seemed to be little more than a young wanna-be who had wandered in from the country. Who was he to be telling a king anything!? 

While Ahab refused to believe what had been told to him, Elijah knew God’s words would come true. When they did, the king was not going to be happy. So Elijah decided to do what seemed prudent at the moment. He ran for the hills. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly where he was hiding out as both the drought and the king’s anxiety began to deepen.

Now, one would like to think that because Elijah was doing what the LORD had asked, he would be protected from the disasters that were occurring all around him. But that’s not the way it worked. Eventually the mountain stream that flowed past his hideout dried up and the ravens that had brought him food each day stopped coming. Then, just to make a bad situation worse, God told him to go to Zarephath – a city that was only eight miles away from the hometown of Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. Yet, despite all the logical and intelligent reasons not to go, Elijah decided it was more important to trust God than to cave in to his fears.

It was in Zaraphath, during one of the worst droughts recorded in Biblical history, that Elijah encountered a poor widow who, as we later learn, was collecting sticks in order to prepare the last meal she and her son would have before they finally starved to death. Unaware of her situation, however, the prophet asked her for some water and a small cake of bread. 

Now, it was her turn to decide how to respond. Would she continue making preparations to die or would she open what little bit of life she had remaining to a stranger . . . to a prophet who represented a God she didn’t know. The ripples of Elijah’s faith and God’s love were beginning to spread. 

Due in part to the decision of those two people, we are a part of the story, too. It is our turn to trust and to follow – to take those small steps toward God, especially when our world is falling apart. Who knows what effect our decisions will have on others? Maybe someday -

maybe even today - God will use us to help widen the circle of Christ’s healing love.