One of the highlights of my semester was our trip to the Mississippi gulf coast to help people whose homes had been damaged or destroyed by hurricane Katrina last fall. Thirty-six people loaded into 3 vans and drove all day and night to spend a week hanging sheetrock, roofing, cleaning and sanitizing, painting, and whatever else anyone would entrust to us. (The picture you see is a group of us relaxing one evening at the local library.)
Everyday we woke up early, had a great southern-style breakfast (complete with grits-yum), spent a full day on the job, and came back covered with dust and dirt. We stayed focused on the needs of others all week. Each evening we gathered to sing and study God’s Word together.
At the end of the week, I was amazed at how God had blessed us. For a whole week we fixed our eyes on God and on the needs of those around us and I believe nearly everyone on the trip would say that this was one of the most fulfilling weeks in our lives.
Jesus was once asked which commandment was the most important. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)
We learned first hand one of the great, surprising secrets of God’s Kingdom—there is great joy in forgetting about yourself and serving others! The church is doing most of the relief work along the gulf coast. Praise God that His people are living out the gospel in compassionate service to those in need!
One of our objectives for students is that through CSF they will catch a vision for serving others, and find ways to serve in their everyday lives. Service trips are a great training opportunity, but serving God and others are not isolated special events. This is the way of life for disciples of Jesus.
We were also blessed to be joined on our trip by some students who are not Christians. Helping others was on their hearts as well. God gave us a great opportunity to work alongside them for a week, showing them kindness and talking with them about life. We hope that our example of humble service will open doors of ongoing relationship and trust, that God might use us to draw them unto Himself.
• Pray for a productive summer of planning, meeting incoming students, and inventing new tools we can use in our ministry.
