Sacrifice

I'm excited for my church. I feel the excitement level and love for God rising, I see people constantly stepping out of their comfort zones to help others, and have watched as people have let God radically change their lives. But the thing that has struck me most lately is a feeling of awe towards the level of sacrifice I've seen.

Three instances in particular come to mind when I think about this. I've seen a man and his wife downsize their business, in part because they desired to be able to spend more time helping out with both the youth group and the children's ministry even more than they already do. I've seen a member of the youth group who was 4th in the world in a video game sell his handmade computer and games because he felt that they had become his idol. I've seen two fellow college students spend their precious summer time volunteering to help out throughout the week with the youth group. And when I see these things I'm filled with joy and respect towards the people that are willing to make such a sacrifice.

These people truly understand what we as Christians are to do. Where they see a need, they fill it. When they realize that priorities need to be shifted, they make painful decisions. All while chasing after God and striving to put Him first. I'm proud of you guys, and I intend to brag about you even more in the future. Don't disappoint.

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.                                                                                                                              Philippians 3:7-8

Those Hands

I can't seem to get the picture of those hands out of my head. They weren't just any hands. They were dirty, stained, and roughened by a hard life spent begging and sleeping on a sidewalk somewhere. They were cupped together, a very humbling position, trembling with nervous excitement as they felt the weight of over a pound of food, a feeling which had been forgotten long ago. They were filled, and as they were he just sat there staring at them not knowing what to say, wondering if this was too good to be true. And yet it wasn't, and he did find the words that he wished to express. A shaky 'thank you' was uttered from his lips, and then another, and another.

Joy filled that heart. And just as when a cup has too much water poured into it, and the water flows over the brim, so the heart does with joy. Those hands were filled with food, till they were overflowing. And what was the first thing that they did? They got up, took a firm but gentle grip of what had been placed within them, and gave some of their contents to the other pair of outstretched hands not far off.

Those hands were held in a way that did not expect anything, in the humblest of fashions, in a way that a man that has been humbled by circumstances holds them. And when they received, they shook with the utmost of thanks. And when they were filled, they shared their precious contents with the utmost of care. And I cannot forget, and will always have imprinted in my mind and heart, a picture of those hands. If only our entire lives echoed what they did.

Sometimes Blessings Stink

One of the defining moments of the trip, and my favorite, occurred at a place called St. Thomas More. As we woke up that morning we were scheduled to work at another local kitchen/shelter in the town. However, upon our arrival, we were slightly dissapointed and at the same time somewhat excited to find that the entire building had been closed due to a sewage backup. The backup had become so bad that it had become a health hazard, and everybody, even staff, had been ordered to leave the building. It was kind of a bummer not to be able to help. We had been told that this would be the best kitchen that we had worked at yet, and there was a strong Christian foundation too, something lacking at the other kitchens. But after waiting around for a little while as our hosts made a number of phone calls, we were soon on our way to St. Thomas More's, a hospitalized retirement home that also dealt with rehabilitating injuries and the mentally ill.

I was very excited. I love medical stuff, and the idea of being able to talk with these people had my full attention. Sam, an avid outdoorsman and very good friend of mine, and I immediately headed to the third floor and walked into the first room that we were invited into. In that room we met a man by the name of Donald. He was a local, having lived in DC his entire life, a former stone mason, as well as a fan of hunting. We immediately hit it off, and listened as Donald told his story to us, his desire to get out of there as soon as possible (a common feeling among the residents there), and about his interest in and experience with hunting. Stories were swapped, laughs were shared, and we all had a good time.

Eventually, as the time came for our group to leave, Sam began to make his exit (I had left 15 minutes prior due to somebody on the fifth floor asking for company). Before Sam left though, Donald thanked the both of us for coming by. He's been in there for a month now, and nobody visits. His family does not call. He feels as if he's been forgotten. The churches in the area that do visit, quickly stop in, say a prayer, and leave. Donald thanked us for coming, for being the first ones to come and actually take an interest in him, and for taking the time to talk with him. It was somewhat hard to leave that place knowing that he would probably be alone for a long time afterwards, but I believe that God had us there for a purpose. I believe that we touched his heart just as much as he touched ours. And I can honestly say that I have never been happier about a sewage backup in my entire life.

Mission:DC

So we just got back from our missions trip in Washington DC, and it was awesome. We were there for a five days working among the homeless and helping out in some not-so-good parts of town. The trip was everything that I had hoped for. We went there with the goals of sharing the gospel, serving others, and opening up our students eyes to the world around them with the hopes that this would leave a lasting impact on their lives. And I think that all of our goals were met too.

I'm super proud of our team. This was the first missions trip for pretty much everybody, and they did an amazing job. Our students were more than happy to have the opportunity to serve others, were never afraid of stepping out of their comfort zones (or if they were, they did an excellent job of hiding it), and reached out to others on a daily basis.

Mixing pasta by hand now = ibuprofen later

How did they reach out and serve though? Well, our time was spent mainly ministering to the homeless. Every morning the group would go to a different kitchen/shelter around time to help prepare and distribute the meal, which turned out to be a lot more labor intensive than I thought it would be.

Evenings were spent in a local neighborhood working a VBS program for the kids. By the end of the week we had probably around 20ish kids coming for VBS, and another 20ish coming to play basketball, where we'd talk to them about Jesus as well.

After VBS, things weren't as routine. One day we toured the city, another the group went on a prayer walk, another was spent in worship, while on another day we did probably one of my favorite parts of the trip, the Urban Plunge, which was a way to experience what life is like as a homeless person. One is given a minimum amount of money ($2), and told to go throughout the city to find a meal for oneself as well as a homeless person, find a place to stay the night, and find a pair of socks. As you can imagine, it was a pretty difficult task, but it was very rewarding, and as the group met back together it was awesome to hear the stories that were shared.

Overall, this was one of the most rewarding missions trips that I have been on, as well as the most labor intensive. I think that being able to watch these guys do things that they had never even dreamed of experiencing before, and watching them thrive while they were doing it, was probably one of the most encouraging aspects of the trip. The groups eyes were opened, and they did their job better than we could have ever asked for. I'm proud of them, and looking forward to see what we can do for next year...