Sometimes inspiration can come from the most unlikely places. Take the story of Frederic Tudor, for example. For those of you unfamiliar with his story, Tudor was a New England merchant in the early nineteenth century. He had a series of failed businesses, and soon found himself on the verge of bankruptcy. Then, one winter day, as he was looking out across a frozen pond, he got inspired.

“If I could find a way to transport ice,” he thought to himself, “I bet I could sell it.” So he started experimenting with different kinds of insulation. He tried sawdust, but that proved to be a bit messy. He tried rice, but that proved to be rather expensive. And then he tried straw—just plain old, ordinary straw. But lo and behold, it worked!

He chartered a ship, had the entire hull insulated with straw, and loaded it with 180 tons of ice. “I want you to deliver this to Calcutta,” he told the captain.

“You mean in India?” the captain asked in disbelief.

“Precisely,” said Tudor.

Needless to say, most folks thought that he was out of his mind. After all, you can’t go on a three-month voyage from New England to India—in the middle of summer, no less—with a boatload of ice. The only thing that will give you is a big puddle of water and a whole lot of wet straw. However, on September 10, 1833, the ship arrived in Calcutta, still carrying 100 tons of ice.

Since the vast majority of Calcutta had never even seen ice before, let alone had the opportunity to purchase it, it quickly revolutionized life in India. Before long, Frederic Tudor was shipping ice to places around the world, making him one of the wealthiest men in the United States—and all because he had the insight that what is of little value in one context might be extremely valuable in another. A block of ice in Boston in the dead of winter is practically worthless. But if you put that same block of ice in Calcutta, it suddenly becomes worth a king’s ransom!

Now, hold that thought for a moment, and consider the kind of people that Jesus called to be his disciples. They weren’t among the well educated or the social elite. They weren’t among the powerful or the popular. Their names never made the Fortune 500; their faces never appeared on the front-page of the Jerusalem Times. And yet, their work and witness helped to change the world.

“How?” you ask. Well, simply put, because Jesus changed their context. They started out as plain old, ordinary fishermen. But Jesus took one look at them and said, “Come, follow me; and I will show you how to fish for people.”

That’s the amazing thing about God’s love. God can take what most of us would consider worthless, and by changing the context, make it priceless!