Dr. Grant Scarborough
(pictured above, Dr. Grant Scarborough and Dr. Robert Campbell.)
Seeds are pretty simple. You plant and water and then wait. Add a little fertilizer, water a little more and wait. It seems like a lot of waiting.
After a while there’s a shoot from the dirt – then more waiting. My garden is not the best of gardens. Many plants grow up and then bear no fruit. Well that just stinks. I really think that as much money as I spend on my garden – and the little fruit I receive – it would be cheaper to go to the grocery store and buy the entire vegetable section. But don’t tell my wife, she likes the backyard dirt.
Sometimes you get that one plant that completely over produces and it makes it completely worthwhile. One year it was our cherry tomato plant and once it was our cucumbers. Last week I saw some more over production from seeds planted in Augusta, Georgia ten years ago.
In 2007 I moved to Augusta to try and start a clinic with a friend Robert Campbell. We had so little. Many of you know the story of God’s faithfulness, and how God provided for our families and our clinic. It was the biggest step of faith we had ever taken as a family. We planted a small seed called caring for the poor. We prayed, many people watered it. Somehow, it grew.
I was able to go visit it last week. I was overwhelmed. The seed had grown into a tree. I think of the bible story where a very small seed was planted and grew into the largest tree in the garden where many birds came and nested in that tree. I saw a clinic in Augusta, where many of the poor have come and found a home. They found a tree where they were cared for. They found a resting place. They found hope. They found Jesus.
I was even more amazed to see many names on a sign on a wall that made it possible. Many people from Columbus, GA were on the sign. Amazing! People from a different city planted a seed. You need to know that in a different city and in a different garden, the great gardener God grew a beautiful tree. The people in Augusta do not know I am writing this – but I encourage you all to go visit and see the seed that was planted by many from Columbus. See the seed that has grown into a fruitful tree.
In 2011 I moved to Columbus and more seeds were planted. It allowed us to open another clinic called MercyMed of Columbus on January 19, 2012. Exactly five years ago. Today is our five year birthday. I am overwhelmed as a I write about how God blessed MercyMed. I report on this fifth birthday that our success is due to many things and today I stand to give glory where glory is due. After completing an expansion, adding dentistry, hiring a new nurse practitioner, expanding counseling – we stand to give glory first and foremost to the God of Heaven and Earth.
Deuteronomy 8:11-18 says,
“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
We desire to publicly acknowledge on our fifth birthday, that it is all about Jesus. We want to remember Him and acknowledge – it was not the might of our hand and our power. It was all about God. We will remember and celebrate Jesus first and foremost today. We will NOT forget!
But I also want to thank you. You have planted seeds with us. You have invested in us. We dug some dirt, manipulated the soil, you planted seeds, we all watered and God showed up. Thank you for being a part of what God is doing in Columbus, GA. Thank you for investing in MercyMed, but even more, what God is doing for the poor in this city.
May we, today on our fifth birthday, celebrate Christ. Let’s celebrate Him as the defender of the poor; let’s celebrate Him who is the Great Provider; let’s celebrate Him as the Lover of our Souls; let’s celebrate Him who so kindly and graciously waters the little seeds we planted; let’s celebrate Him who brings forth the sprouts that lead to fruit.
Let’s celebrate – not MercyMed – let’s celebrate Christ!
To God be the glory. Great things He has done!