“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

Tony Campolo was doing work for an organization that does amazing things over the world, including Haiti.

One night he was going into his hotel in Port-au-Prince when he was approached by three girls in their early teens. They indicated that he could “spend the night” with them for $10 each.

This horrified him. They were probably poor and trying to help feed their families. He was also upset because he knew there were evil people who would take advantage of young girls like that.

Since he had $30 dollars he accepted their proposal. However, he didn’t do anything bad. Instead, he invited them to his hotel room to rescue them from the kind of night they would have otherwise had. He wanted them to simply enjoy the night as the young girls they were. He ordered movies for them to watch, and he ordered banana splits for them to enjoy.

Campolo considered how they would probably be back on the streets again the next day. He wondered if he had he made any difference. But then he felt the Spirit speaking to him: “But, for one night, Tony, you let them be little girls again. For one night, you let them be kids. You didn’t change their lives, but for one night you gave them back their childhoods.”*

There are times when the worries of this life are overwhelming. Not a day goes by when I don’t think about the avalanche of problems that so many people face. In fact, it can be so overpowering that we can become numb. And when we become numb, we start to think that there’s nothing we can do to make a difference.

But even though you can’t do everything, you can do something.

A word of grace. A gift. Some of your time. Encouragement. The benefit of the doubt. A helping hand. A banana split…

God is able to take the small things we do in love and use them for his glory and for the benefit of others. 

Even though you can’t do everything, you can do something.

By Matthew Ruttan

–* Tony Campolo, Let Me Tell You A Story: Life Lessons from Unexpected Places and Unlikely People (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000), 46-48.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.