The picture is an iPhone pano of the scene I’ve been staring at for the past hour; the Adriatic Sea off Rovinj, Croatia.

The picture doesn’t do justice to Rovinj, one of my favorite places on earth, and a truly beautiful city. But I think it captures something of the immenseness & the always-changing yet still nature of the sea there.

There are two places on earth that affect me this way: Jackson WY and Rovinj. In both places, the combination of immenseness and dynamic stillness speaks to my soul. It’s healing. It gives me great peace.

Why do I find it healing? Because it reminds me of how small I am in the cosmic picture. It reminds me that all my striving & activity don’t amount to much on their own. It’s only when my activity is in concert with the activity of him who formed the mountains & moves the seas … only then does anything lasting or significant occur. The significance doesn’t come from me. Unless & until he moves, I’m powerless.

That realization I s very freeing. That gives me peace.

My organization has been becalmed for the past couple of years, like a sailboat when winds are still. We have attempted to develop in a couple of directions, and the major initiatives we’ve tried to pursue haven’t developed.

We don’t control the Croatian educational bureaucracy; we don’t even influence it. We’re powerless.

We can’t control the schools that are our potential partners, or control their circumstances. We’re powerless.

We can’t control the past, the bad experiences that some of the Croatian pastors & other church leaders have had. We’re powerless.

It’s not that we’re inactive; we’re doing the activities God gives us to do as well and as hard as we can. We’re pursuing new programs & friendships & cooperatives, etc. But the major initiatives–accreditation, major partnerships–just aren’t developing.

We have to remember–I have to remember–that if our work is God-sized, and we want our impact to be God-sized, then it depends on him, not us. And it happens in his timing, not mine.

We’re small & powerless, but we’re faithful with the opportunities he gives us. And we’re waiting for him to MOVE. And when he does, we’re ready

It’s okay to be small and powerless when you’re waiting prayerfully on the initiative of a big, powerful God.