Some
time ago, a major newspaper ran a story entitled, “From landfill in
Paraguay, sweet music emerges”. It follows a community in Paraguay that have formed an
amazing orchestra that plays instruments created from pieces of trash found at
their city landfill. This landfill receives more
than 1,000 tons of trash every day. More
than 1,000 employees actually make their living by picking through the trash. A
young man- Favio Chavez, a young professional and musician saw the desperate need of poverty among the people and their families who lived at the landfill, he
decided to donate some of his time by offering music lessons to these impoverished children.
At first Chavez only had about five instruments to spare, but he soon had 50
students signed up. So
he asked one of the trash-pickers, to keep an eye out for materials that might
be used to fashion musical instruments. What has happened has been amazing. A cello was made out of an oil can and old cooking tools, a flute constructed from tin cans, a
drum set that uses X-ray film as the skins, bottle caps that serve as the keys
for a saxophone, a double bass constructed out of chemical cans, and a violin
made from a battered aluminum salad bowl and strings tuned with old dinner
forks. This
recycled orchestra plays beautifully. They refer to themselves as the Landfill Harmonic Symphony. Chavez claims
that this amazing story has taught him at least one profound lesson: “People
must realize that we shouldn't throw away trash carelessly. And we shouldn't
throw away people either.” What
creative, dedicated people can make out of trash is truly amazing. But I must to
tell you – as amazing as that is, it isn’t nearly as amazing as what God can
make out of people; especially people that have been tossed aside; overlooked,
ignored – or even considered unusable. The truth is, God is most often searching for
His servants, miles away from the beaten path. He’s creating an orchestra by
rescuing and recycling, discarded, people. God most often chooses the unlikely,
not many from among those who are strong or noble or influential or impressive. You may be wondering what God can do with a life like yours. Sitting around in all the trash that your life has accumulated through the years. Let it be known that God specializes in hopelessness, He does His best work with impossible situations. God can remake, reuse, and re-purpose your life today. Invite Him today into your life and He can make "Treasures from YOUR trash." Join us at Vineland Road Christian Fellowship, where in every service God is present and restoring lives. |