"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us. that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"
1 John 3:1
Every afternoon at UJIMA-Settegast Heights (a Section 8 housing community), I have the blessing of playing with some of the most beautiful children I've ever met. We play bingo, we do the monkey bars, we play chain tag, or their personal favorite, we play Crystal is a horsey, where basically they get on my back and we run and spin around aimlessly until I can't hold them anymore and the next beautiful child asks to get on my back.
As Big Boi and Hamburger and Pig and Trey and Tyra and Adrian and Queen Bee and Daysia and so many more look up at me with their beautiful eyes, I can't help but be reminded of how I look up to my father. These kids look up at me sometimes with smiles, sometimes with tears, and even sometimes expressionless. Some of them are so desperate for human touch that I just want to hold them all day long and bring them home with me. Their laughter has become the music of my summer. Even their expressionless faces hold so much beneath. And then I remember, they are not only reaching up to me, they are actually reaching up to their heavenly Father. They may have no concept or knowledge of who Jesus is, but they do know they need love and I know that that love comes from their Heavenly Father.
As I left there last Thursday, knowing I wouldn't be back for a few days, I couldn't help, but be overcome with sadness. I didn't want to leave them. They have taught me so much about how to yearn out for the Lord, even though they don't know it. The way they love me is the way I want to love my father. Their love is so bold, real, and honest.
I don't even want to think about leaving them next week, knowing that I won't be seeing them for a long time, if ever again at all. Through this summer, though, I really have come to feel a peace about moving back to Houston after graduation, working, and continuing to love and be loved by these beautiful children.
Lord, thank you for making such beautiful children. Thank you for letting me be your child and loving me so well. Bless my kids at UJIMA and lead them to your love. Amen
Friday, July 23, 2010
Serving for an Audience of One
"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men." Ephesians 6:7
I've gone to SEARCH (Service of the Emergency Aid Resource Center for the Homeless) a lot this summer. It's not always my favorite site to go to, but lately, it sure has taught me about what true service looks like.
When I went on my first CSM trip to Washington DC in February, I remember thinking the same think about DC Central Kitchen. While I was cutting loaf of bread after loaf of bread, I remember getting bored and wanting to do something else. Then, Mo, a DC Spring Host, and I started talking about service and what truly serving the Lord means. It hit me that serving the Lord is not about being thanked or people thinking that I'm serving well. I had always had this thought as head knowledge, but it had never transferred to my heart. That cold February morning in the DC Central Kitchen basement, it finally transferred to heart knowledge. I was serving only one thing and that was my God.
SEARCH continues to teach me about serving wholeheartedly for an audience of one. Lately, my groups and I have been washing walls and windows. I tell you every window and wall, inside and out, in that 4 story building is as clean as it will ever be. While I still don't exactly look forward to washing walls and windows (I'm not sure I ever will), I now sing and dance while I'm doing so because I know I'm not washing for nothing, I'm washing because He first washed me and my sins away. Now, every time I squirt that Windex bottle and wipe a window, I view it as just a way I can show the Lord that I am so thankful for Him not just cleaning a part of me, but all of me.
Lord, thank you for continuing to teach me what true service is and for places like DC Central Kitchen and SEARCH that you use as avenues of learning.
I've gone to SEARCH (Service of the Emergency Aid Resource Center for the Homeless) a lot this summer. It's not always my favorite site to go to, but lately, it sure has taught me about what true service looks like.
When I went on my first CSM trip to Washington DC in February, I remember thinking the same think about DC Central Kitchen. While I was cutting loaf of bread after loaf of bread, I remember getting bored and wanting to do something else. Then, Mo, a DC Spring Host, and I started talking about service and what truly serving the Lord means. It hit me that serving the Lord is not about being thanked or people thinking that I'm serving well. I had always had this thought as head knowledge, but it had never transferred to my heart. That cold February morning in the DC Central Kitchen basement, it finally transferred to heart knowledge. I was serving only one thing and that was my God.
SEARCH continues to teach me about serving wholeheartedly for an audience of one. Lately, my groups and I have been washing walls and windows. I tell you every window and wall, inside and out, in that 4 story building is as clean as it will ever be. While I still don't exactly look forward to washing walls and windows (I'm not sure I ever will), I now sing and dance while I'm doing so because I know I'm not washing for nothing, I'm washing because He first washed me and my sins away. Now, every time I squirt that Windex bottle and wipe a window, I view it as just a way I can show the Lord that I am so thankful for Him not just cleaning a part of me, but all of me.
Lord, thank you for continuing to teach me what true service is and for places like DC Central Kitchen and SEARCH that you use as avenues of learning.
The Story of David, the Second Chapter
"You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. "
Job 11:18
I was so excited last week when I got to see David again. Now 2 weeks since he entered the program, he is already on the path to recovery. This time as he talked to me, I could just see a hope and a light in his eyes that wasn't there before. You could see that he felt safe at Open Door and was proud of what path he was now on. We talked about politics, the oil spill, the weather, just your average conversation with a person. It was so cool to me that in just two weeks the Lord had given Him hope and a new outlook on life. David just wanted to talk and talk and talk. He even told me that my group and I were like his children. That's why he wanted to talk to us so much. I felt that way, too.
The first time I met him, I hurt for him like a daughter would. This second meeting, I grinned like a daughter proud of her father. I am proud and anxious to see what the Lord continues to do in David's life.
Lord, thank you for always holding David in Your hands. Be with him and continue to heal him through Open Door and his relationship with you. Amen
Job 11:18
I was so excited last week when I got to see David again. Now 2 weeks since he entered the program, he is already on the path to recovery. This time as he talked to me, I could just see a hope and a light in his eyes that wasn't there before. You could see that he felt safe at Open Door and was proud of what path he was now on. We talked about politics, the oil spill, the weather, just your average conversation with a person. It was so cool to me that in just two weeks the Lord had given Him hope and a new outlook on life. David just wanted to talk and talk and talk. He even told me that my group and I were like his children. That's why he wanted to talk to us so much. I felt that way, too.
The first time I met him, I hurt for him like a daughter would. This second meeting, I grinned like a daughter proud of her father. I am proud and anxious to see what the Lord continues to do in David's life.
Lord, thank you for always holding David in Your hands. Be with him and continue to heal him through Open Door and his relationship with you. Amen
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