Saturday, February 21, 2009

rewards on earth, treasures in heaven

i never would have imagined that cooking and serving dinner to a hundred jobless, homeless men would be so rewarding.

tonight i went to atlanta union mission, the carpenter's house once again to help Bethany's korean ministry serve these men in need. in my last post about this, i mentioned that God had instilled in me a heart of servitude. although i still agree with that mindframe, i feel that a more accurate description of my heart would a description that focused on how my heart truly enjoys and rejoices when i serve them. God is so great that he put in me an immense eagerness that enjoys serving so much, not for the future benefits, but for the joy and fellowship i have with the fellow volunteers, the men who we are serving, and even the children of the volunteers. i love doing it. i get to meet new people, i receive praise from the km for my work, i have great conversations with the resident kitchen volunteers and i am encouraged by them. i do it to serve the Lord because we who serve are His hands and His feet on earth. but even more so, because my heart rejoices when i get smiled at and blessed by the homeless men.

quite honestly, i feel a little selfish because it blesses me so much.

granted, i have a massive language and cultural barrier on both sides. but God does not call us to remain in our comfort zones. rather, He calls us to do things we don't feel comfortable doing. sometimes it's embarassing. sometimes it's awkward. but without these little experiences, we would never grow at all.

consider this analogy. what if you never went to school because you were so comfortable with your parents and you didn't want to meet new people. what if you waited until you were comfortable leaving your parents? you wouldn't have gotten very far without taking that leap of faith, no?

serving the men at atlanta union mission definitely rocks way more than any philanthropy or service event at georgia tech (i.e. dance marathon, HERO, etc.) because of the immediate results. these men get so blessed and are so joyous just to see you. and it's soooo easy to interact with them and just sit down and have a conversation. those lame campus organizations can 't even begin to compare on the amount of life i feel and the joy i get out of serving these men. it's a direct connection rather than an indirect one. i mean, they're right there, living not more than five miles away from where i live. and a campus organization like that, in contrast, just doesn't directly relate the serving party and the party being served. i mean, "doing it for the kids?", really? i am very skeptical about that.

there are even huge benefits to helping these men. it creates a network as well. there are two examples that stand out in my mind.
  1. campus parking. one of the men who helps to organize the homeless men works for Georgia Tech parking and he hooked me up with free parking for the semester!
  2. special events. these men are involved in the community, hence they know a lot of people. today, i had a fantastic conversation with mike allen, a 53 year old homeless man who just encouraged me about my past, present, and future love life. he was also friends with the owner of uptown comedy club and he got me free tickets for me and four friends to enjoy the comedy club.
those are just two examples of worldly benefits i get out of serving. not to mention the even greater spiritual and emotional benefits from just uplifting these men and feeding them and fellowshipping with them and the other volunteers. i take so much joy out of it.

praise the Lord! today was a day of continual thanksgiving for everything God's given me in my life.

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