“I am happy, because I am alive.”
The seven words above have done nothing but inspire me and help me grow into who I am today. Most importantly those seven words helped me decide to apply for the World Race Gap Year.
This previous July I joined my youth minister and other youth from my church on the annual service trip to the South side of Chicago. It was my first service trip, so I did not know exactly what to expect. Within the first day I was in Chicago I knew service work was going to become one of my biggest passions. We did many things on that trip such as tutor kids, plant a garden, help clean out the ministry we were staying at, do a whole lot of praying, and a ton more, but one thing that really changed me was the soup kitchen we served at every night.
At the soup kitchen we switched up our roles every night, sometimes you would be in charge of putting bread on the trays, sometimes you would be in charge of putting a dessert on the tray, sometimes you would be in charge of putting fruit on the tray, or sometimes you would be the runner, meaning you would run the trays to the tables. The last night we served at the kitchen I was the runner, and that’s when God really worked his magic.
I remember the kitchen being so busy that night, I felt as though I was non-stop running from table to table. I didn’t have many conversations with the people I served, it usually went something like; “Here you go,” and then I would receive a “Thank you,” or “God Bless you.” But one man changed that pattern, and that one man really changed me.
I saw him sit down, and immediately I grabbed a tray of food to bring to him.
“Here you go sir.” I said to him as I set his meal down on the table.
“Thank you very much, how are you doing today?” He asked in response.
“I am doing amazing, how are you doing?” I answered.
“I am happy,” the man then paused and looked me right in the eye, “because I am alive.” The man then chuckle to himself making me smile ear to ear.
I quickly went back to serving the other hungry people their dinner, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what that man said, “I am happy, because I am alive,” “I am happy, because I am alive.” Replayed over and over in my head as well as the smile that man gave me while saying it. It gave me chills the more and more I thought of it, and I knew that it was something I had to share.
That evening after returning to the ministry we were staying at we had our nightly worship, after prayers and readings had been said we would share our favorite thing from that day, and I bet you could figure what I shared.
It was my turn to share, I remembering feeling my smile widen as I spoke about those 7 words. I felt my eyes twinkling and my heart explode with love. I remembering saying something along the lines of, the man that said those words doesn’t have much, but he knows that God loves him enough to keep him alive everyday, and that is enough to make him happy and I think everyone should think more like him.
We don’t need materialistic things to make us happy, getting to live another day should be enough especially knowing that God gave you that day because he will always love you unconditionally.
Those seven words are words I will live by for the rest of my life, and I will surely live by them while on the race. Those seven words are words that made me want to hear more like them. Those seven words are the reason I am writing this blog post. Those seven words are the reason I made the decision to take the path less taken, and go and serve God for 9 months. Those seven words helped me find my passion, and I know those seven words were sent from God.
