“lord, give me eyes to see your kingdom and a heart to feel your movement.”
10.15.07
reflection:
ministry sneaks in
i’m sure anyone who goes into full time ministry struggles at first with what ministry looks like. natural expectations are that ministry is sharing God through teaching about the bible and that it’s always busy – handing out bibles, sharing the gospel, preaching, bible studies.
reality: ministry, like Jesus, doesn’t fit in a box. it really just kinda sneaks in.
i think that was a huge lesson for our team as we went about our first month of “ministry.” we all came in with expectations of what ministry looks and feels like: sharing the word, busy all the time, easy, challenging, that it would always feel “ministry-y.” for me, one of my “biggest” prayers for this year has been a continuation of a prayer i have been praying for the past few years: to learn how to love better. how to love like Jesus loves us.
honestly, some of our expectations were met, and some weren’t. those that were met might not have happened at the times or in ways that we would have imagined, tho. sometimes it happens when we’re least expecting it to. or – gasp – even at times when we didn’t plan for it to happen.
i know there were days when we would be going to do an english camp or something, and i expected that we’d do a song about Jesus or tell the kids about the bible, and it just wouldn’t happen. but you better believe we loved the heck out of those kids during the time we had. we’d spend time with them teaching them english, truly being patient with and looking each one in the eye. we’d run around on the playground with them and play silly games or tickle and laugh with them.
there were other times when ministry snuck into our team’s downtime. we’d be sitting around our room (probably trying not to think about how hot it was) talking and laughing or just sitting around doing our own individual thing, and something would come up – a story, a favorite song, a frustration, anything – and we’d share it…
we’d share LIFE. we were serious, and we were challenged, and we were silly, but we were together. and that’s just what i’m here for…the unscheduled, spontaneous, accidental ministry moments where ministry isn’t a specific activity…it’s LIFE. it’s what i do every morning when i get out of bed…how i live my life…how people see me treating those around me…how i treat myself…how i handle difficult decisions…how i react when i am challenged…how i truly, genuinely and passionately love and bless those around me.
for me, ministry isn’t an activity, it is a day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute commitment to Joshua 24:15,
“but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
as big a deal as that feels like at first blush, i know that the only way to succeed every day, hour and minute is with intense, passionate love that Jesus fills me with. it’s my job to take advantage of every opportunity that He allows me to have – whether it’s planned or not – to pour that love out just as quickly as He fills me.
