Love. Serve. Grow.
This morning we got up and had a nice continental breakfast at the hotel. Our morning was nice and leisurely passed because we didn't need to leave until around noon. After breakfast we spent some time relaxing and getting ready before having our own church outside by the mountainside. We talked about the mission on our shirts "Love. Serve. Grow." Is it easier for us to receive love or to give? Is it easier for us to serve others or receive service from others? How can we grow while doing these things? We were challenged to not only love and serve others, but to accept love and service from others. Someone once said "When we allow others to serve us, we can invite the Spirit by asking Heavenly Father to help us grow closer to the individuals serving us…On the other hand, pushing the Spirit away with our discomfort and discouragement in our own abilities is not the Savior’s way. When we decline needed service, we are more focused on our own problems than we are on the people around us." It's easy to focus on helping and loving others, especially when we're on a mission trip but the challenge this week is to feel love from others, accept service from others, and work on our own growth. Not only is this a mission trip, but a pilgrimage for ourselves. 2 Corinthians says this:
We are accepting the challenge of our faith being tested this week, and rather than running from the challenge to embrace it. WE are here to help others, but in all reality they don't really need us. They need our resources, but they don't need us. It's our responsibility to accept love while loving others (1 John 4:17-21), accept service from others while serving (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) and allow our faith to be tested to produce growth.
We finished the drive to Charlotte and after a quick pitstop at Wal-Mart for a few forgotten items we made it to the church around 3pm. We had a delicious dinner and then had worship. During worship Justin shared about our goal as Christians: "Live a life that honors God". In our digital, social media ridden world, we only post the best of our life online and we add a filter to everything so that we look the best we possibly can! Ephesians 2:1-10 was the focus scripture for service. In verses 1-3 Paul speaks of how our lives used to be before Christ. How were of the world and did wrong by God. Then in v. 4 good news comes..."But, God...". God has the power to negate everything wrong in the first few verses. Mercy is compassion, but grace is mercy cranked up higher because when someone offers grace, they take or rid the punishment. Sometime's we're so worried about how we appear or how others see us that we don't allow God to work through us - we put on filters so we look good to others. "But, God..." When Jesus comes into your life He doesn't add a filter, He makes a whole new, beautiful and complete image.
Following worship we met with our crews. Autumn and Devan are on crew "Golf", Isaac, Colton, and Abby are on crew "Delta", Clarissa and Kacey are on "Echo", and Mark is on "Charlie". All crews are roofing this week. Isaac and Clarissa are the reporters for their crew, they're in charge of reporting back to the mission serve staff what happened on their site for the day. Autumn is a breakmaster for her crew where she fills water and cleans coolers each day as well as making sure everyone takes enough breaks. Colton and Devan are both medics - hopefully they won't be needed much! Kacey is chaplin for her crew, she will help lead a devotional on site each day.
It's sure to be a hot week, but we're ready for the work and remembering to accept love and service from others while growing ourselves all in the midst of helping others.
"5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 6 As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority.7 We pray to God that you will not do what is wrong by refusing our correction. I hope we won’t need to demonstrate our authority when we arrive. Do the right thing before we come—even if that makes it look like we have failed to demonstrate our authority. 8 For we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth. 9 We are glad to seem weak if it helps show that you are actually strong. We pray that you will become mature."
We are accepting the challenge of our faith being tested this week, and rather than running from the challenge to embrace it. WE are here to help others, but in all reality they don't really need us. They need our resources, but they don't need us. It's our responsibility to accept love while loving others (1 John 4:17-21), accept service from others while serving (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) and allow our faith to be tested to produce growth. 
Following worship we met with our crews. Autumn and Devan are on crew "Golf", Isaac, Colton, and Abby are on crew "Delta", Clarissa and Kacey are on "Echo", and Mark is on "Charlie". All crews are roofing this week. Isaac and Clarissa are the reporters for their crew, they're in charge of reporting back to the mission serve staff what happened on their site for the day. Autumn is a breakmaster for her crew where she fills water and cleans coolers each day as well as making sure everyone takes enough breaks. Colton and Devan are both medics - hopefully they won't be needed much! Kacey is chaplin for her crew, she will help lead a devotional on site each day.
It's sure to be a hot week, but we're ready for the work and remembering to accept love and service from others while growing ourselves all in the midst of helping others.
Comments
Post a Comment