Quiet Moments.

It’s been a little over two weeks since I’ve been here….2 weeks. Fourteen days…it’s AMAZING how much you can cram into that short of a time and how many ways you can see God working if you are really looking for Him.  I have been doing things such as VBS, block parties in several different locations, visited the nursing home, had Bible studies, and we will start a 3 day crusade tonight.  Yet, the stories I want to tell you are ones that if I didn’t slow down enough to notice, I might have missed.  Some of the times when God has taught and blessed me the most were in the quiet moments.  It’s in hearing His still small voice through the smile of a child, or in precious moments with kids late at night talking on the basketball court…etc.  So I will share a few of those stories with you. 

“I don’t have any clothes except my school clothes and these jeans.”  When I lived & worked in New Orleans I expected to see people who only had the clothes on their back…wasn’t surprised when they came to our door and asked for a t-shirt or a cup of water.  Yet, out here even though there is extreme poverty, I was somehow taken by surprise when one of the little boys (who has captured my heart) said those words to me.  He broke my heart and brought a smile to my face at the same time…I couldn’t help it – he had a grin from ear to ear radiating off his sweet little face.  You see, this little boy had worn the same clothes everyday for at least 2 weeks (it was his school uniform).  I thought maybe he just didn’t care to change because his family (though they often had on the same clothes several times a week) changed their clothing.  But after several days, we asked if he’d like to come inside and maybe get a new pair of pants.  He came inside and began to look through the clothing we’d set out on the tables – with each shirt we handed him & that fit his smile got wider.  “Do you like this one?” I asked.  “Yes! I don’t have any clothes except my school clothes and these jeans.” he replied.  Once he was loaded down with a few shirts and new shorts/pants he jumped on his bicycle to race home and put his clothes away before anything happened to them.  I think he wore all 3 or 4 of the shirts we gave him that very day…just excited to have something else to wear.  God reminded me of how He has blessed us in order that we may be able to bless others.  We are not to just sit and soak…rather He wants to bless others through us with the blessings He has given us (whether that be our time, talents, or possessions).  He also reminded me the importance of paying attention.  You never know who is going to come across your path each and every day that God may have brought to you for a specific reason.  It’s easy to get into a routine and to forget that we are really here to reach out to people around us – and everything else is just extra (yes, God blesses us and allows us to have joy through other things – but our main purpose is to SERVE Him though every single thing we do). Open our eyes to a broken and hurting world.

There are a few kids that have come to really grow on me because I’ve watched them grow up from babies to older kids (or little kids to teenagers).  Because of this I feel we have a special relationship – yet, what it looks like has changed over time.  Especially with the older kids…they used to be the first ones to run up & jump on my back or give me the world’s biggest hug.  Now, if they were to run & jump on my back I’d probably be shocked – that is after picking myself off the ground because they are bigger than me now.  But even though they don’t do that – they show me their care in a different way.  There is one kid who now does not like to come around during the day time.  He prefers to be under the cover of night – and at first I thought that he just did not want to come around at all. Yet, he started making his way over little by little as there weren’t many people around and it was dark.  Then one night last week after all the team had gone inside, he and his siblings came over and sat on the basketball court. We got a chance to talk about goals and his hopes for the future.  You see, I worry about these kids as if they were my own.  I want to see them succeed and I want to see them doing well – my heart breaks for them when I know they are hurting.  It’s moments like that night…when I got to spend that precious time with those kids for about an hour in the quiet of the night, that I perhaps treasure the most.  After-all life really is about the relationships – our relationship with God, and with other people.  Once all else is stripped away it is HIS WORD that will remain and the relationship we had with Him and others through Him. 

Sunday the Pastor I was listening to said something like this… “When people see me they say something like - oh Pastor, I really enjoy being around you and talking to you.” He said that is when he wants to just tell them “No, you really wouldn’t like ME. What you like is JESUS who is IN me. I am nothing but a filthy mess…it is JESUS that you want. HE is the One that you are seeing when you are drawn towards me.” That may not be his exact quote word for word – but that is the basic point he was getting across.  Without Jesus working in and through us we stink.  The flesh always fails, yet Christ is victorious and ANY good that is in us is because of HIM. I want to always remember that – the power of Jesus and how He is the One that enables me to do anything of worth – because on my own I could do nothing that would matter at all.  It is easy for me (and for us as humans) to want to be prideful or to take credit for something good – yet it is not us at all.  It is Christ working through us & He is the One who deserves ALL of the glory.  J