September 8, 2025

“Did you pack a bowling ball in here?” My arm is nearly yanked out of its socket as I haul Ed’s suitcase out of the car trunk and drop it heavily on the curb.

Ed and I have just arrived at the airport to catch a flight for a ministry trip. Our friend Alayna and her husband Diego, who will be accompanying us on this trip, both turn towards us to see what’s going on.

Ed laughs. “No, not quite a bowling ball…” he says. He unzips the suitcase, reaches inside, and pulls out a blocky metal contraption housing large rollers and a hand crank on the side. 

“What is it?” Alayna asks. Diego takes the strange thing from Ed and weighs it in his hand, whistling when he feels how dense it is.

“It’s my mother’s old pasta machine,” Ed says with a fond smile. “She was famous for her homemade pasta. I want to take it to the training center; the caretakers were good friends of my mother and I think it would make them very happy to have it.”

“We’d better hand it to the airport security agent along with the manual so they know it’s not anything dangerous,” I suggest.

“Although I guess it could be used for self-defense,” giggles Alayna.

“My mother actually did use it for that once,” Ed says. “A man tried to rob her purse, probably since he thought an elderly woman would be an easy target. But little did he know that this heavy pasta machine was in her purse. She swung her purse at him and Whack! Knocked him right over.”

I hold back laughter at the image of Ed’s sweet mother knocking over a robber. “She must have been tough,” I say.

“She was. But most of all, she trusted in God,” Ed says. “She made pasta for people who didn’t have much to eat, and she’d ride the bus all over the city to deliver her food. So many people were blessed by her generosity and prayers. She led many people to the Lord, and now, those people are passing that faith on to the next generation. Even though she’s in heaven now, her actions are still having a ripple effect here on earth.”

It’s really amazing to think how every person’s life has eternal weight and significance. Although each day that rolls by may feel as insignificant as a drop of water in an ocean, we have to remember that on earth, our perspective is limited. In heaven, all we have done, from the big things to the small, will be remembered. On that day, Jesus will explain that whatever we did even for “one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did [for Me].” (Matthew 25:40)

Whether it’s dedicating your career to Christ, adopting your neighborhood in prayer, or churning out pasta as an act of love, your actions can have an effect that lasts for eternity!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2a)

Let’s remember this truth every day, knowing that every one of us can leave a legacy of righteousness that brings blessings from generation to generation!

-Eutychus