Monday, October 10, 2011

One way to handle difficult projects

Recently had the opportunity to play a very small role in a major project. A friend of a friend decided that this mutual friend really needed a more reliable car than the one she had for her Christian ministry, but also knew that she could / would never be able to do so on her present limited income. So he decided to do something to help, but didn’t have the resources himself to fully do so. However, knowing that our mutual friend had lots of friends who would probably only be too happy to help, he came up with the goal of trying to collect $7,000, to help our friend purchase a more reliable vehicle.
So he set up a Facebook account especially for the project and contacted various friends that he knew of, or could get the names of, and approached them to be a small part of this larger project, and then set up a bank account to hold the collection till ready to distribute to said friend.
The goal was to try and enlist one hundred friends to donate just $70 each if they could. However knowing that even this amount would be hard to find in one hit, he decided to ask people whether they could contribute just $10 a week for just 7 weeks and then set a reasonable date for all the money to come in, if it was going to. Well the other day a large group of us had the privilege of meeting at Lilydale Lake, after our respective Church services had finished, and were able to watch this enterprising young man hand over a giant cheque, not for $7,000, but for $7,200. Plus another $90, that came in after the cheque was made up.
I was impressed by his initiative to try and do something to help someone in need, even though initially and individually, it was beyond his power and resources. But by breaking it down into small, and then even smaller pieces, and encouraging and entrusting others to help out, the project was born, and through his report backs and follow ups, the project was both successful and successful beyond its original target. Praise God.
So the moral here is, if you want to do something to help someone and feel strongly enough about it, you probably can do it too; if you are prepared to enlist others and to break it down into doable pieces and give yourself sufficient time, and without trying to do the whole thing yourself and at once.
By the way, do you know how to eat an elephant? One mouthful at a time!
So by all means go out there ready to eat your elephant, but be prepared to also eat it at only one mouthful at a time! And to share it with others too!

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