First Monday of the school year. Let's see what God has chosen for me out of the Daily Strength for Daily Needs*.
As usual, Matthew 7:7, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you", has proven true.
This weekend I had sort of crisis of ministry. Over the past year, a majority of my Sunday mornings have been spent helping prepare and serve lunches at the Gathering Tree to a segment of Springfield's homeless/hard luck population. Saturday I realized that for this time period many of the people I have met are are still exactly where they were 15 months ago. Still living in homeless camps, still struggling with alcohol addiction, still flying a sign just to get money for a hotel room for the night. I began to wonder if my time at the Gathering Tree was really benefiting anyone other than fulfilling my sense of self-righteousness.
As approached this morning's Bible study, this "crisis" was in the back of my mind. Then God showed me Isaiah 58:10.
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
God is calling me to obedience. He is calling me to service. The results (or lack thereof) are not my concern. My responsibility is to go when He says, "Go." Do when He says, "Do." Feed when He says, "Feed."
I may not know this side of heaven what effect my time at the Gathering Tree has had. How lives have been changed as a result of pancakes and conversation might never be revealed to me. But I do know that God promises blessings for obedience. Perhaps the hot flapjacks, kind word and sincere smile are making a difference. I am called to sow, so I will.
*http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8534/pg8534.html
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