In a recent Parade Magazine article, Mitch Albom told the fascinating story of William Kamkwamba, a young man from Malawi. When William was 14, he had a vision. He wanted to make a windmill that would pump water and make electricity for his village.

He didn’t have much to work with, so he started collecting garbage, such as a bicycle rim, plastic pipe and an old tractor fan. People thought he was crazy for going out to collect garbage; but three months later, he had made a windmill. At first, it provided only enough power to light up one light bulb. The town cheered. He kept tinkering until he finally created bigger and bigger windmills. William is now 22 and a book has been written about him titled The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

Albom was making a point about imagination, working with your hands and not being obsessed with technology. There is a spiritual lesson here. God does with our lives what William does. He takes the broken pieces and failures of our lives and uses them to allow us to be a blessing to others. Grace does not just forgive our sins—Christ graces us for God’s glory.