Do Others See Jesus in You?

          This past week our students completed the series, The Invisibles.  This series examines the challenges that many of us have faced with feeling invisible at certain points of our lives, seeing others who may be invisible to us right now, and gaining an understanding that we have never been invisible to God.  Each week includes a discussion question/point that our parents and their students are encouraged to wrestle through together.  The final week’s discussion question reads as follows, “Identify someone who is invisible in each of your worlds.  What does he or she need?  How can you help with that need?  How can you also point them to Christ?”

Throughout this series we have been challenging our students to examine the world they live in by looking at their families, schools, communities, and the whole world.  This past week we discussed how they could be “like Jesus” to both “the invisibles” around them and also to anyone that they served.  For our family this became extremely evident through an experience we shared with our Sunday School class in Georgia.  Our class was very intentional about seeking out opportunities to help others in need throughout the year.  One particular opportunity that came up was to travel to “Tent City” (a place of shelter for several homeless people in the area) and serve them dinner.  Mindy and I felt compelled not only to serve at this event but also to have our children participate with us.  Our children were only two and three at the time so we knew that they would not grasp the full meaning of what they were doing but that it would be a good starting point to introduce them to a life of serving others.  That evening we were able to help several people by providing them with a hot meal, conversation, and even some special kits with various items in them like toothpaste, hand sanitizer, and other items that they would need (which were specially prepared by our own children prior to the evening of serving).  This was simply one way of noticing people that were in our line of sight everyday but invisible to us prior to this evening.  After leaving that night our son began asking several questions about why those people didn’t have a house or food which led to some challenging conversation with him.  However, we believe as parents that starting our children early in serving others will hopefully help them have this attitude through the remainder of their lives. 

As parents, what opportunities are presenting your children with to serve others?  What opportunities are available for you to serve as a family?  I challenge you not only to think about the immediate community that you find yourself in but also the larger community that we are all a part of being the world. 

This week we were able to challenge our students to take on a different perspective as they prepared for our annual summer mission experiences.  We challenged them to think about the reason that they were serving (being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ) along with ways that they could show God’s love to other people in another part of the country.  The challenge was well received as our students began to think of ways they could impact other areas of our nation with the love of Christ in a more intentional manner.  One small group leader mentioned the great work that our students had done in this area during our trip to Steubenville, Ohio this past year.  He mentioned that one person whose house they worked on commented about the hope that she had now because of the heart of the students who helped her during the week.  This is a testament to the wonderful work of our students, adults, and church as we seek to share God’s love with other people.  I am thankful for an opportunity to be a part of this wonderful church that seeks to share God’s love with other people!

Again, my challenge to you is to seek out opportunities to serve others as a family both in your immediate community and the world.