Sharing the Blessings

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble. 10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You. 11 Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the people. 12 When He avenges blood, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble. Psalm 9:9-12

I tell myself and others often that if you look around, you will always see someone who has it worse than you do. Never has this been more obvious to me than yesterday as a contingency of Christians from three separate congregations of Christ's church came together to feed and comfort evacuees from Hurricane Gustav's destruction in Louisiana. This was a great effort and one which made me thankful to have the example of Christ to follow. These three small churches, Kingsville Church of Christ, Detroit Church of Christ, and Sulligent Church of Christ, were able to prepare and serve enough food to serve over 150 men, women, and children and have enough left for seconds. Two things stood out to me:
1. When we as Christians band together great and marvelous things can be accomplished with little preparation and planning. We tend to fall into a trap where we think that even the smallest ministry effort takes arduous planning and thought. What does that say about our faith that we don't believe that anything is possible through Jesus Christ. This effort these three churches made was planned and accomplished in less than 48 hours. It honestly went off without a hitch. Further, there is a mind set among smaller churches (you know, the ones that primarily make up the kingdom of heaven) that we do not have enough members or man power to "pull off" extraordinary efforts. This can be true. Thank God we can call upon other members of the kingdom from other congregations to help. We can work together and still consider ourselves autonomous.
2. Treating someone as Christ would can go further than any pamphlet, sermon, television broadcast, or extravagant meeting. Christ tells us what we do to the very least of people we do to Him. I met the least yesterday and I can testify that treating them with a sincere and unreserved kindness touched them and made them curious about what I was doing there. How do I know? One of the people there asked specifically for more information about this Church of Christ. This curiosity was sparked by nothing more than a group of Christians who long to serve Christ who acted on that calling.

If you would like to see photos of this effort, click here.