What Do Economists Have to Do with It?

Larry James of CitySquare Ministries tweeted a link to an article about economics that was just eye-opening to me. It was a discussion of the economist Albert O. Hirschman who spoke of The Principle of the Hiding Hand.

Hirschman argued no one plans on major difficulty when planning a project–not really. In fact, most people choose the path of least resistance because it just makes sense. But here’s the rub—while no one plans on it—it inevitably happens. And the result? Well, things may cost more, difficulties may cause incredible pain and headache—but the resultant creativity ends up turning crisis into an amazing opportunity that usually far exceeds the originally conceived benefits.

But there is more: if the difficulties that happened were foreseen—the project would never have materialized and the great good would never have taken place. People generally take a plunge to do something risky because they do not think it is risky—until it’s too late to back out! So, instead of quitting they persevere, overcome, and experience something incredible.

He uses the experience of a mill built in Pakistan to make pulp out of bamboo for commercial use as one of his illustrations. The multimillion dollar plant was built to exploit the immense tracks of bamboo forests in the region. But when it was fully operational all of the bamboo died (a 50 year cycle that happens to bamboo that was unknown at that time).

From the article:

But what impressed Hirschman was the response to the crisis. The mill’s operators quickly found ways to bring in bamboo from villages throughout East Pakistan, building a new supply chain using the country’s many waterways. They started a research program to find faster-growing species of bamboo to replace the dead forests, and planted an experimental tract. They found other kinds of lumber that worked just as well. The result was that the plant was blessed with a far more diversified base of raw materials than had ever been imagined. If bad planning hadn’t led to the crisis at the Karnaphuli plant, the mill’s operators would never have been forced to be creative. And the plant would not have been nearly as valuable as it became.

Perhaps the cliche is true: we do our best work under pressure!

With this in mind consider our service in Ukraine: No one goes on mission trips thinking the worst things will happen! Some people, if they knew beforehand a particular crisis would develop, they might think twice about going! (And honestly, most of the time our teams do not experience terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad crises). While we’ve been fortunate, often things will not go as planned and problems develop and plans have to be shifted. What usually takes place is a situation that ends up being better than what would have happened if everything went smoothly! Think through these scenarios:

-One team is told not to teach about Jesus or hand out materials for a week due to one parent’s complaints.

-Another team is not allowed to stay at the camp where they were working and even were limited in the amount of time they could spend at the camp. They also did not have a good, private meeting place for their team devotionals.

-One team had a local priest who was constantly criticizing the group and keeping his kids at the camp from attending classes.

-One team had planned to attend a particular camp for the entire year only to discover the Director had to pull the camp two weeks before the team was supposed to arrive in country.

In each of these cases, the teams adapted and things worked out better than even anticipated.

-The team told not to teach or hand out materials…by the beginning of the second week they were allowed to teach and hand out materials. Because the kids were originally told they wouldn’t receive the materials, they were even more eager to get them! Also, the director who was stressed out by the complaining parent kept coming to the team leaders asking for prayers and eventually opened up about a dear friend with cancer and asked the team to pray for her and her friend. The non-Christian staff were amazed and impressed with the behavior of the team through it all.

-The team facing the local priest had an “unexpected” opportunity to visit with the Bishop of the region. When the Bishop heard about their work he was so impressed he put his stamp of approval on it. No more problems with the priest and a brand new friend was made who still has a lot of respect for the program (and even invited and hosted the Lubbock Christian University chorus last year).

-The team who had to stay in a different camp ended up developing deep relationships with the camp they served and the host camp where they stayed. Because they had no meeting space, they bought inexpensive plastic chairs and had their devotionals outside. Next thing you know, their devotionals began to be filled up with kids from the camp who were attracted to their singing.

-The team who had to change camps at the last minute developed new relationships and ended up the following year at another camp where they have been effectively serving for three years now. In fact, the depth of their relationships of this new camp far exceeded their previous experiences!

I could go on with more and more stories, but you get the picture! Challenges and problems arrive. But ultimately God provides a way to creatively bring about an even greater result.

So, as you contemplate participating on a team next year, or as you plan on heading out in a couple of weeks to Ukraine remember: Problems will always come. But God provides a way through them and most often the result is even greater than anticipated!