Footprints and Vision

I’ve recently been out of the country, in an urban area where owning and operating a motor vehicle is cost prohibitive for many. Going only where public transportation can take them, their geographical world is small. They speak often of their “small footprint” a reference to the limited area of space they normally cover day by day. Church leaders in the area speak of small footprint, large vision. It occurred to me that there are really four categories of people:

• Small footprint, small vision – they go nowhere, see nothing, envision nothing, care little about the rest of the world.
• Small footprint, large vision – while confined to a small geographic area they envision the world and attempt to make some impact on it.
• Large footprint, small vision – These folks travel widely and are knowledgeable of the world, but don’t really care about it.
• Large footprint, large vision – They travel widely, care deeply, attempt great things on a world-scale.

I realize these are huge generalities, but at least somewhat valid. The ideal for the Christian would be to have a large vision, regardless of the size of the footprint. Whether local, rural, metropolitan, or global, we need to remember that Jesus said, “The field is the world” (Matthew 13:38). How large is your footprint? How about your vision? Whichever category fits you, I challenge you to “lift up your eyes” and look beyond your footprint this week.