Hey gang,
Another week has passed with a fair share of meaningful experiences. Over the last bit, approximately Wednesday to the following week Friday, our team has worked with an agency known as Walk in the Light located in the Haniville township near Pietermaritzburg. I noted some of the specifics of this agency in my previous post, but a majority of our work revolved around prepping the agency facilities to receive an incoming group of missionaries from the states, California co-eds to be exact in every detail. Now I know many of you out there are praying for me, so rest assured that all due respect was paid to the young college female missionaries that now occupy Walk in the Light's residential facilities. To avoid any confusion on this subject, for the remainder of my blog I intend to refer to them as my mission minded colleagues. In order for my mission minded colleagues to find suitable rest and accommodations, the staff supporting Walk in the Light were busily prepping new buildings and fixing up old structures in order to rearrange ministry personal and ensure that feather stuffed pillows equaled the number of heads in need. In other words, the agency made great haste to finish necessary renovations before my mission minded colleagues arrived.
How does our team fit into this equation? Well, we painted and scraped walls, moved furniture and possessions to different rooms for staff members, and became acquainted with sugar soap, a powerful mold fighting agent applied through liberal applications of muscle and sponging. The work we preformed was not all that glamorous. I must admit that I don't find myself waking every morn with a strong desire to scrub toilets and moldy paint jobs. Can this really be the ministry I was called to do this summer? Of course it is friends. Some may say that this type of ministry lacks a certain pizazz, spice, even sexiness, if that word can be used in the ministerial context. Yet, I say that having such a mindset should almost compel one to seek out such opportunities because ministry is dirty, grimy and the every day. Ministry does not revolve around our expectations or preferences. God does not call us to enter the church candy shop and select our favorite flavors. Without this realization, one might think that black licorice or the like is the only sweet available. How do we avoid such a gloomy conception of ministry as all work and no play? This is accomplished by realizing that ministry is about meeting the needs present not the needs we wish were present. If I had a choice, I might never allot my time for scrubbing and cleaning grime. If we examine the question closer though we see that what is being asked what do "I" will, and not the always appropriate, what does God will. Reflecting upon my time so far at Walk in the Light, I find this valuable lesson an invaluable component of my growth this summer. I have begun to the see the fruit of cultivating a simple desire to serve without expectation or reservation.
So, in summary for those of you reading and to Bruce, Walk in the Light's fearless director, I would not have traded these last few days for any other experience this summer. I will look back fondly on things learned as seeds for future ministry.
Jamison
No comments:
Post a Comment