A story on the theme of 1 Corinthians 12.27

Theme: As we recognize the God-given diversity within our church, we must affirm, respect and encourage each other as having a pivotal place in building up the church.

Mark was # 3. That is, he was the third son in his family. There were times when he loved being the third son. His two big brothers were very nice to him. They took him places that he wouldn’t have been able to go alone. Because of them, he got to do lots of things that his friends who were his age didn’t get to do. He got to play lots of sports with them in the neighborhood. He was never a very important member of the team, but he was on their team. Best of all, his brothers didn’t let any body give him a hard time or make fun of him because he couldn’t play their games very well.

But then there were times when he didn’t like being the littlest brother. He could never do things as well as his big brothers. He never knew as much as his big brothers. He didn’t even understand the things that they talked about sometimes. They tried to make him feel like he was an important part of their family and an important part of the team of three brothers, but sometimes even that didn’t help. Especially when he got left behind if they ran fast some place or rode their bikes across their neighborhood.

Then one day, their neighbor Mr. Lowe came over. He had locked himself out of his house. All the members of his family were away. He couldn’t find the key they usually hid some place outside for emergencies like this. He didn’t want to break a window or have to pay a locksmith a lot to come and open the door for him. He had walked all around the house and tried every window to see if it was unlocked. They were all locked except one. He got excited when that window started to come open, but then after just a few inches it stopped. It was open, but not far enough for him to squeeze through. 

That was why Mr. Lowe came next door to Mark’s house. He was looking for someone small who could get through the window. All three brothers were in the back yard together. He looked them over. First he looked at brother # 1. He was obviously too big to squeeze through the opening in the window. Then he looked at brother # 2. He looked a long time. He wondered and wondered if he could fit through the opening in the window. Nope! He shook his head. He didn’t think so. Then he looked at brother #3 who, of course, was Mark. He looked just the right size to squeeze through the window. In fact, he might not have to even squeeze.

All of them went next door to Mr. Lowe’s house. They found the window that was open -- just a little bit. And Mr. Lowe lifted Mark up to the window. Mark slipped right in. He didn’t even have to squeeze. He ran through the house to the back door and opened it. When he opened it and stepped through it, he heard cheers -- from Mr. Lowe and his brothers. And then he got a wonderful surprise. Mr. Lowe gave him $5 for his work. 

Mark who thought he was too small to keep up with his brothers, found out that for some things he needed to be small to do the job. That felt really good. He was needed.