Love In Action!

This last week I went with our youth group on our annual youth mission trip. Over the years, my pastor husband and myself on been on quite a few trips such as this, with youth and adults. We have always been blessed by these trips and have seen some wonderful projects accomplished, with the help of God and the hard work that comes from loving, determined souls.

This year over a dozen churches came together and stayed at Butler University, in Indianapolis. Every morning we would disperse throughout the city and work on several projects, for The Boys and Girls Clubs, local churches, nursing homes, individual homes of folks who just can't do things the way they used to, and for the Salvation Army.

The group that I was assigned to went to a salvation army location. Their summer program fed the local families in the area lunch,had a devotion time and then open gym time. This gave the children in the neighborhood something constructive to do during the summer and also made sure they had at least one good meal a day.


We went in to help by painting a few walls, clean some carpet and windows. Help cook and serve the lunch and snack. But that was nothing. The most important and fun thing we did was be with the kids in the afternoon and talk about God's love. The theme with this was, no matter what a person did, God would not stop loving them and He would always be there for them when they called out to Him. I could see in some of the young ones eyes how important it was to know that someone would always be there for them. 

The staff at this facility was a wonderful example of God's love in action. They loved these kids with a passion that we don't see enough of. Yes at times some of the youth that came could be a handful, but that did not deter them. They fixed what ever was going on and went right on loving and serving. I know my heart and the hearts of the others that came with me were touched. You could see God shining through these men and women, with an unfailing love that would not stop. They were the epitome of these verses in Corinthians 13..... 

1 Corinthians 13 The Message (MSG)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

The Friday we were there was the last day of this summer program.  Tears could be seen in the eyes of some. It was sad for us too, because it was our last day as well. So you can imagine how upsetting it was for the one's who had been there all summer. But there were smiles too because they had been with, and had been taken care of, by some of the most loving people I have ever met. What a wonderful summer these kids had. 




I thank God for the friends we made there and for the chance to see His love in action.

Blessings!

A One Way Street

My Mother-n-law and myself are in Michigan, near Bay City. We brought Riley to camp up here so we are hanging out, this week. Last evening we decided to find a unique restaurant for dinner. In the process of looking we pasted a food place that looked fun so we decided to find a spot to turn around and go back. I came to a corner and started to turn right when all of a sudden all these cars start honking at us. We quickly discovered that we were trying to turn the wrong way into a one way street. I hurriedly corrected that and we went on our way. Those people can forgive us, I hope, because we had an out of state tag on our car. Made for a good laugh, that's for sure.

You can bet we learned where not to turn as we head back into Bay City today. 


This morning as I am looking through some scriptures and I come across this passage....


Psalm 19:11-12

11 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!


How appropriate these verses are considering our last night's blunder. 

God, if we listen to Him, is like all those honking cars. He wants to show us the correct direction to go in this life. He wants to keep us safe. He wants to keep us from doing foolish things. I do know that when I listen to Him I feel like a weight is lifted and relief sets in because I know that I am not alone in all this world of one way streets. I find that I when I am going in the right direction for me, anxiousness becomes calm, stress becomes peace and the feeling of lostness is gone.

I hope you find a peaceful, safe direction to travel in today.

Blessings

Just Plant

I was watering the flowers on my front porch this morning and this is what greeted me. Isn't it beautiful? This is a Plumeira flower. My father-n-law gave this plant to me when we were in Florida on Spring Break. At the time he did this, these were just a few sticks. He told me to put them in some soil, water them and they would grow. At the time I was thinking "sure". Because not only did I not think this would work, I also had to fly back home with these sticks. When we did get home, I kind of forgot about them for a couple more days. When I finally did think about planting them, I needed to get potting soil, so there went another day.

Finally I got them in a pot and set the pot on the front porch. I kind of put it in the corner because, hey, it was just sticks and I didn't want anyone to see it and think I was crazy for trying to grow sticks. I did keep watering them though, just in case. Finally I saw just a bit of green at the end of one of the sticks and now look. There are leaves and gorgeous flowers, on these sticks, and they really look beautiful.

Spreading the truth about Christ and the salvation and peace that comes from him are kind of like planting these sticks.

Everywhere we go we present ourselves as something. If we are grumpy, gossipy, stand offish or just plain mean. We are just like the sticks out of dirt. Nothing good  can come from this. People will walk away and not want anything to do with us.

But if we present ourselves as peaceful, loving, giving and kind, we plant ourselves in the soil of relationships, because we will be the kind of people others want to be around. As relationships grow we can be the picture of Christ and others will want the same beauty that shines from within us. God can use us to bring the message, of Him, to the folks around us. Blessings abound and beauty grows in hearts and lives.

1 Corinthians 3:6-8

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own [a]reward according to his own labor.

I know this may sound too simplified or even goofy to some of you, but it works. You never know what will grow from the seeds of friendship and love. God is amazing and can use even our smallest attempts.

If I hadn't have put those sticks in the dirt, even though I had doubts that it was worth my time, there wouldn't be a beautiful plant sitting on my front porch right now. 

Being a gardener is not always convenient or even easy. It takes hard work and even faith in what you plant. The beauty of this flower is, of course, a blessed reward. But the beauty of God changed lives, and friendships made, is even better.


Blessings!