Earlier this month, a team of 20 people in Germany set up over 600,000 mini-dominoes in an effort break a Guinness Book World Record.  Each domino was about the size of a fingernail and the team had already spent two weeks setting them up.

And then, it happened.

A single, curious, wandering fly, observing the beautiful patterns of the dominoes below, came in for a closer look.  He decided to land for just a quick second to see what was going on. It’s probably safe to assume that this little fella had never accomplished anything of note amidst his 28 days of average life expectancy.  But, in an instant, he had stumbled onto something beyond comprehension. It’s something he still doesn’t comprehend (both because he has a fly brain and because, well, he’s probably dead by now). As he landed on that one domino, he set off a chain reaction that made international news.  A single fly rarely makes international news. He never set out to topple 600,000 dominos. His only intention was to land on one.

Maybe you — or someone you know — was once a curious, wandering fly who, at some point, noticed the expansive landscape of children and families devastated by abuse, neglect, addiction, poverty and isolation.  Then one day you decided to come in for a closer look. Maybe you volunteered to help out with at-risk kids in the community. Or you became a mentor. Or you enrolled in your first social work class.  Or you took a meal over to those people from church who just became foster parents. Or you went on a mission trip. Or you showed up at an informational meeting about adoption or foster care.

The next thing you know, stuff is starting to happen all around you.  Not only are you having an impact on a child in your home or community, but you’re having an impact on several people.  Your best friends are asking you to dinner because they’ve seen you do foster care and they want to learn more. Now, you begin to realize God didn’t just bring you into this to impact a life or two in your home.  He has a much bigger assignment in mind. Suddenly you find yourself in front of a room full of people at church talking about speaking up for kids. And then . . . all heaven breaks loose.

And there you are — a fly — not even beginning to comprehend the impact you’re having on generations and generations of families to come but also the impact you’re having on eternity.  You thought you were just landing on a domino. You were so wrong.

If you are reading this, you likely fall into one of three categories:

1. You are the person described above.  You’ve landed on your domino and you have already begun to see the impact around you:  Spend a few minutes and thank God that he is doing amazing things that your “fly brain” could never fully comprehend.
2. You landed on your domino but it doesn’t seem to be tipping over just yet to make this kind of exponential impact:  Don’t worry. Hang tight.  It’s coming.
3. You are circling above the dominoes considering whether you should take a closer look:  ONLY do so if you are OK with making the biggest beautiful mess you’ve ever seen.  
   

Dominos are everywhere.  Your job is NOT to knock them all down.  You job is to land on one. Forces beyond you will take care of the rest.

This post originally appeared in our Foster Roster e-newsletter which is delivered each Friday. We keep it short and sweet and fill it with practical articles, videos, blog posts and other tools for leaders like you working to help kids and families in foster care.  To sign up, go to http://bit.ly/1rwn6eO.