Broken but willing to Love

“Feed my Sheep”

-John 21:17

Things can get out of hand on these mission trips...

Throughout the Bible we are called to serve others.  When we share God’s Love, the Word comes alive.  However, I am one of those people who will try to help someone, but I often wind up making things worse.  I remember on one of my mission trips to Mexico, I was supposed to be a youth leader.  However, the work site I was organizing was a disaster.  We wound up trying to build a house on a hill of fire ants and wasps.  The kids kept stepping on broken bits of trash sticking out of the ground.  I forgot to give a child his medication to treat diabetes, and I was pulled over by the Mexican Federal Police for driving too fast.  Finally, the other leaders and I had made a decision to take a kid on the mission trip even though he hadn’t provided the proper paperwork.  The child’s parents and his youth director had promised there wouldn’t be any problem.  (This was back in a simpler time when the border patrol never bothered to check documentation.  They just waved you through.)  However, on this day, the guards asked to see everyone’s passport or birth certificate.  Part of me wondered if I would have been better off staying home in bed instead of trying to share God’s love….

Those trips I took over the summer should have been a disaster!  However, we always walked away with an amazing experience… (Thankfully, the police did not ticket me or throw me into jail, and the border guards didn’t look close enough at our paperwork to realize there was a problem.)  All our kids made it home safely.  We built a house, and God was present.  In this world, we will never be able to serve someone perfectly.  However, if we love, God will still bring hope.  Today, I hope you are inspired to breathe life into the world around you.  Let’s take risks and share God’s Good News!

Blessings!

PB