A True Servant

 

After one month of working with the aboriginal community of
Bagot – Australia, I realized that I left with more than I came with.  How could this be so, when my mission
is to give to others? The aboriginal people of Bagot poured out their thanks to
us for all our contributions upon our departure, but as our plane took off to the Phillipines– I
couldn’t help but notice how much I had changed. When looking in the mirror it
almost seemed as if I looked completely different from the internal changes
that had taken place. I am transformed.

 

I started to see someone who was humbled by picking up
someone’s trash that had been left on the side of the road. I saw a woman who
wasn’t fearful of death, dirt, and disease. I saw the young girl in me that
loved to sing that was now reborn. 
I was strong and bold; ready to love and care for people in the deepest
way possible.  I wanted to be a
true servant to all I met.

 

 “Whoever wants to become great among you
must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just
as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life
as ransom for many.”  

 

One of my greatest inspirations this month was to work
alongside Dr. David & Isobel Gawler. They founded Bagot Victory Church
approx. 5 years ago with only 4 aboriginal people attending. As a surgeon at
the Darwin Hospital, Dr. David solely supports the funding of this church.  This couple first began their
missionary work in Nazereth during the Lebanon War and have continued to serve
the Lord and share the gospel ever since.

 

They pour their
lives into the people of Bagot in a supernatural way that leaves me in
awe.  David will perform surgery on
a patients all through the night- where witnessing a death can be common. There
are nights where he only gets 3 hours of sleep and proceeds to show up to run
the programs at the church.  What
is most impressive is not him simply showing up- but David and Isobel drive the
indigenous people to doctors appointments, let them borrow cars, assist when
funerals take place, help them with their legal battles, administrative
paperwork, and they continue to pour life into their children through kids
programs, and food & clothes distribution.  The selflessly pour out their lives with grace, love, &
patience.  I am forever touched by
the servant’s heart that lives within them. I found myself wondering how it was possible that a man of his experience could have so much energy to give?  But the love of the Lord that lives inside him was the source of all his strength.