“So you want to be first place? Then take the last place.
Be servant of all.”
Mark 9:35
I am not a very completive person. It’s true. As I write this blog my team is playing a card game, with intense eyes and good friendly trash talk.
For me it’s not about being first, it’s about being silly and having fun. I am sure it drives my fellow teammates crazy, especially when they find themselves on my team in an intense card game. When you look past the card games and into real life being last is a hard thing to swallow. There are so many times in real life, however where you have to let go of first place and embrace being a servant.
Servant hood seems to be a theme on repeat while on THE WORLD RACE. Serving comes in many forms; doing the mundane for my team in the daily routines, loving our ministry hosts by doing the things they just can’t push through and giving care to the least of these.
This month we found ourselves loving some of the “least of these.”
At THE HOUSE OF HOPE there are elderly people who have been abandoned, mentally and physically disabled and orphans that everyone else has given up on. They are some of the “LEAST OF THESE” and yet in the midst of what looks like to many as last place there is tangible love as if Jesus himself walked amongst them.
The first day we went to THE HOUSE OF HOPE we met Sita. Pastor Joseph the director of the home told us how she was a heavily depressed woman who was on the highest dosage of medications. Everyone had given up on her and mentally she was very disturbed. I looked into her eyes as we sat during introductions and wondered what this sweet looking woman had gone through? What horrors had she seen in life? What people had abandoned her and left her with no hope?
The first day of serving at THE HOUSE OF HOPE, I was put in the kitchen to serve alongside Sita to make lunch for the rest of the residence.
At first she was a little testy as I came into the kitchen. She would toss things and respond in a non-friendly manner. Then as if God ordained worship music was turned on over a loud speaker that echoed over the home. I found my lips singing along to the words of worship songs I hadn’t heard in about ten years. Then from across the kitchen I heard Sita singing the songs. As we sang together it was like God meshed our hearts together. Instead of the testiness, Sita began to respond with:
“This is a good song, huh?”
or
“You like this song? ME TOO!”
From that moment on Sita’s frown started turning upside down into a warm smile. She was gladly giving us tasks, feeding us everything she could and taking every opportunity to show us love. It was crazy how just a few hours before we were walking on eggshells to being fully loved by a woman we were there to serve.
Who knew that serving could simply be putting someone first.
Even if it was just singing over them a simple song of joy.
Serving isn’t about you at all, but it’s about what God want’s to do through you.
My Pastor back home says,
“IF YOU ARE NOT SERVING, YOU ARE SWERVING.”
I will always remember Sita.
I will remember her sweet smile.
I will remember her corky laugh.
I will remember chopping fish heads.
I will remember her serving the rest of the people at HOUSE OF HOPE.
I will remember her off pitch singing.
Most of all I will remember the great reminder of what it means to really serve. To love people exactly where they are at and serve them to the best of my ability. To be a servant of all even if that means I may be in “last place” and having a great attitude while doing it.
Sending love from Malaysia!
<3
Ash
#TeamAsh
PS! I am so close to meeting being fully funded. I have to be fully funded by the beginning of January, which means that all monies being mailed in must be done so by mid December.
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