Service

...now browsing by tag

 
 

May 5

Monday, May 5th, 2025

During Spring Break about 15 of our people went to east Tennessee to help IDES (International Disaster Emergency Services) with cleanup and rebuilding homes caused by flooding from Hurricane Helene. They were supposed to give a presentation of their work on April 6th but ironically, we had to cancel services that morning due to extreme flooding in our area and a RED travel advisory (only emergency vehicles were to be out). So we rescheduled it for May 4th (yesterday). As the people spoke about the one item that stood out to them, I noticed what I thought was a theme that wove its way through each one: the opportunity to serve. There were variations of that to be sure, but several of them came right out and said it: “I wanted to be a Mary not a Martha. I wanted to listen to people.” “I wanted to serve in any way possible, even if it meant shoveling gravel” (said by a young lady who was not strong-looking by any stretch). Several others related how they simply wanted to serve these people. One even mentioned how the lady’s whose house they were building served them a hot meal every day.  I guess you could say, “The served being the server”?

In his May 5th devotion in Everyday Gospel, the author, Paul David Tripp, began his devotion with this little gambit: 

Grace transforms us from being those who live for our own glory to being those who find joy in living for the glory and fame of another.

In this case, it was David’s passion to build the Temple, but God in His wisdom told him that he was a man of war and a man of peace was to build the Temple. That man of peace was Solomon, his son.  David’s words to his son were, “MY son, I wanted to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God.” (I Chron. 22:7) David did his part in helping build the Temple by gathering materials needed for the building. He commissioned men to use their gifts to build the Temple. He solicited the help of others in getting the lumber for it.

Put plainly: David wanted a building that would show off the magnificence of God. It really wasn’t for him to have a lasting legacy of “Look what David built.” His sole purpose for building it was the honor and glory of God to be spread. What a great purpose for our lives!! What a great challenge for today, for every day. Live my life to bring honor and glory to God. And you?

March 25

Tuesday, March 25th, 2025

Ask many office personnel what is their most dreaded time and they just might say, “The staff or office meeting.” Many feel as though it is like pulling teeth to go. In fact, many may prefer going to the dentist than to sit in a staff meeting. One word most often defines them: B.O.R.I.N.G.

Yesterday I was in an almost 3 hour staff meeting. There are three of us-myself, the youth pastor (Ryan), and the office manager excellente’, Diana. Every Monday morning unless an emergency takes one of us away, or one or two of us are gone, we have a planned staff meeting at 9:30ish. I use the “ish” because Ryan tends to run late on Mondays. But that’s okay. Sunday is usually an extra busy day for him due to youth activities. Back to my thought: we had our normally scheduled staff meeting that went extra long. I have to tell you that our staff meetings tend to be disjointed. We spend a few minutes catching up, then we have a devotional thought or watch a video (often from The Chosen since Ryan likes it), we pray for various people/circumstances and then Diana brings us up to date on “stuff.”

Yesterday was somewhat different for us. Ryan had taken 14 people to east Tennessee to help with flood relief from Hurricane Helene. Yes, I know that was several months ago but the pictures of the destruction of where they worked are stark. (I’m going to leave the area where they worked unnamed because I never heard of it before). They helped work on some houses- erecting walls, putting insulation in crawl spaces, shoveling and using a wheelbarrow to take gravel for a drainage system on a house. One of the men is a licensed plumber and he and his teenage daughter spent time at another house doing plumbing. A good section of our staff meeting was spent talking about the team, what they did, and looking at pictures of the area.  To give you another perspective, these were teens and adults who gave up their lazy spring break to travel from Spencer to Elizabethton, TN to work for a week in mud, grunge and grime. They got sunburned on Tuesday and Wednesday and then froze their faces off and wore multiple layers on Thursday and Friday. All while sleeping on cots at night in a church building.

I am so proud of Ryan, his wife, Hope and the others who went. Those who went were complimented that they never complained, even though they spent hours in a crawl space hanging insulation. They were given tough jobs but they did it joyfully, never complaining. Ginger was certainly grateful for the house being built on a small lot given to her by her sister after everything she owned was washed away. So were the Fosters and others who had plumbing done after losing everything.  Oh…I failed to mention that we partnered with a group called IDES (International Disaster Emergency Services), an organization from Noblesville, IN well worth looking into.

Well done group. Thank you for your servant’s heart.

February 1

Thursday, February 1st, 2024

I read a heartwarming story of a college basketball star (no name given) who stayed behind after the game to help with the clean up of empty cups and food wrappers. A fan posted a video and more than 80 thousand people viewed it. One person commented, “[The young man] is one of the most humble guys you will ever meet in your life.” It would have been more expected of that young man to go out and celebrate rather than to do clean up work.

That young man learned two words which are rapidly becoming non-existent in our culture: humility and service. And they go hand in hand. While beating the chest and wagging hands and fingers as though asking for and collecting applause are what is seen (and expected from the player), humility and service paint a different picture. While “thug-ball” and “stop-em-in-the-ground ball” and “how-much-money-can-I-make” ball is all the rage, off to the side is the humble one quietly doing his/her job with an attitude of a servant.

Oops, I said that wrong. I’m not allowed to call myself or anyone else a servant these days. It is demeaning. It is a slap in the face. It is misogyny. My one word response? Hogwash. It is not demeaning to be a servant. In fact, I’ll venture so far as to say we need it more now than ever. We have gone so far…down I might add…when we consider being called a servant is demeaning or any of the other adjectives you can use.

Me? I want that. After all, the One I gladly serve and call Lord, the Greatest Man who has ever lived or ever will live (Jesus) once said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Call me a humble servant. Please. There is no greater compliment.

****************************************

Please don’t forget to check out my review of Granger Smith’s book Like a River at my other blog, Cycleguy’s Spin.

October 4

Wednesday, October 4th, 2023

When I was in college, there was a war going on. In fact, I’m going to date myself with this revelation. The war was in some southeast Asian country. You know…Vietnam.

While in college studying for the ministry, I met some guys who were only at that college for one reason and probably one reason only: they wanted to avoid the war. You see, if you were studying at a Bible college for some type of ministry, you were exempt from military service. I was naive;I didn’t know that. I guess I lived in my own world and didn’t really know much about Vietnam. I knew of the protests and sit-ins. I knew of the songs (“Four Dead in Ohio” by C,S,N,Y is one that sticks out in particular). There was a day or two when I had trouble finding a job for the summer and my uncle took me to a recruiting station (not that he himself would go). Fortunately, the recruiter called my parents to tell them and they talked some sense into me. I wasn’t ready for the military, and wasn’t ready for Vietnam in any way, shape. or form. (Who was?). Anyway, I did find a job-one that reinforced my idea of my life’s vocation. For that, I am forever grateful to God.

Back to the students. Their reason for being at a Bible college had almost nothing to do with the “calling” they sensed on their life to spend it in ministry. And to make matters worse, when they did serve somewhere, their heart and reason were totally out of whack. I’m not judging; I’m stating a fact.

The reason or motive for doing something may be far more important than what is done.

Now, I’m not saying what is done is inconsequential. But when a person serves out of guilt or shame or a sense of obligation, joy disappears.  And where there is no joy in whatever one does, the task become mundane. Some people take great pride in what they do. Only that becomes the problem: pride. Not that we shouldn’t care about what we do and work at doing our best. But I’m talking here about having a servant’s heart. No task done because of the joy of service, but perhaps for the accolades or salve a hurting psyche.

Why do you do what you do? If you serve at a soup kitchen, for example. Why? If you help at a homeless shelter. Why? If you support a missionary. Why? If you preach or teach. Why?

Go ahead. Ask yourself that and then give an honest answer. If you deem the motive wrong, take steps to clarify in your own heart, why you do what you do. Then correct it.