On Mission with God

Sometimes, my heart is so full of different emotions I cannot seem to put together a coherent sentence to convey what I want to share. This is one of those times.  Do not be mistaken that although life is full of fun and laughter, it is also full of heartache and brokenness.  In the last week many of us experienced both in our personal lives and witnessed it in the lives of those we served.

Last week I had the privilege of serving alongside  9 kids with Mission Bethalto.  They were long days (right Melissa?!), and there were some emotional days. It was an eye-opening experience for all us on my team.  We were the "social" team. That meant that our goal was to be face-to-face with our community. We served in a soup kitchen everyday.  We played dominoes at Bethalto Care Center and one afternoon we played Wii bowling at Villa Rose!  That was fun to watch.  The last morning, we walked in three different neighborhoods collecting can goods and the kids had their first experience at prayerwalking.

I have hosted a lot of volunteer groups overseas.  This by far was the best week for me since returning from the Mission field.  Why?  Because my whole attention was on teaching young people how to love on others, and our entire focus was on sharing Christ through simple acts of love.  It was amazing.

The group of "kids" displayed complete servant hood in their actions and their words all four days.  They were put in situations that was out of their comfort zone.  Their attitudes were humble and grateful for the opportunity to serve.  They did not complain (not once!); they did not argue; they did not whine; they were not lazy, and they did not act arrogant, self-righteous or condemning. See why it was an awesome group of kids???

The maturity of the whole group (over 45 of us) was God-honoring and God glorifying.  Start planning to be a part of Mission Bethalto next year! I'm just sayin'

The overall experience we came away with was a heart of GRATITUDE. One of my girls, Daria, was able to eat lunch with a lonely 15 year old at the soup kitchen.  I had seen this same girl there the week before when I was visiting the kitchen for preparation to serve.  I encouraged the kids to interact with the people not only by serving them, but by eating WITH them.  Yes, that was scary. Daria could not get over that she came across a girl her own age eating at a soup kitchen in her own "backyard".  All alone.

I encourage you to be on mission with God everyday.  Where has God placed you and whose life does he want to bless through YOU?

I have invited a few of our own kids to come and share their experience with our class in a few weeks, so make every effort to come and hear some God stories!

Prayer:

• Charlotte, Tim and Sarah Jane's youngest, is in Children's Hospital with an infection.
• Continue to pray for Beverly as she gains strength and adjusts to a new way of life.
• Elisha Knight (and family). They will be traveling two days to Houston. This will be a very difficult trip for her physically, but remember that she is leaving behind the only life/home that she knows. 

Hope to see you at the softball field!