In his sixteen page essay entitled "The Star Thrower" published in 1969, Loren Elseley (1907-1977) shared what is now known as the Starfish Story, which is a brief thought-provoking account of what can be done by a single individual to make a difference in spite of what others might think to the contrary. Although this tale has been told and retold many times with slight variations in the telling, the message remains clear: we may only be one, but we are still one and can determine that we will do something that might mean everything to the one we help.
Here is the essence of Elseley's story . . .
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, “I made a difference for that one.”
As we serve our mission here in Baltimore day to day, we have become sadly aware that among the 700 or more members of this urban congregation there are hundreds of individuals who, for whatever reason (and there are many different ones), are no longer being spiritually sustained by the life-giving strength of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their plight is not unlike the starfish who have washed ashore and are in danger of dying without a helping hand.
Admittedly, there are moments when Sister Lindsay and I occasionally feel somewhat overwhelmed at the magnitude of the work that needs to be done and the limitations that keep us from doing more than we have thus far been able to accomplish. But our search prayerfully continues for finding new ways and more helpers among the good saints in the Chesapeake Ward to personally identify and rescue those souls who need to be helped. There is promised joy in this life and the life to come for those who are saved as well as those who reach out to them.
As we serve our mission here in Baltimore day to day, we have become sadly aware that among the 700 or more members of this urban congregation there are hundreds of individuals who, for whatever reason (and there are many different ones), are no longer being spiritually sustained by the life-giving strength of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their plight is not unlike the starfish who have washed ashore and are in danger of dying without a helping hand.
Admittedly, there are moments when Sister Lindsay and I occasionally feel somewhat overwhelmed at the magnitude of the work that needs to be done and the limitations that keep us from doing more than we have thus far been able to accomplish. But our search prayerfully continues for finding new ways and more helpers among the good saints in the Chesapeake Ward to personally identify and rescue those souls who need to be helped. There is promised joy in this life and the life to come for those who are saved as well as those who reach out to them.
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