July 20, 2010
Day six of the NORTHchurch 2010 Dominican Republic mission trip was very similar to day five (except for the Dominican Republic cheeseburger stand and ice cream).
Instead of repeating a lot of stuff, I wanted to share a quick story of how I saw God today.
NORTHchurch has partnered with this local DR church and Mission of Mercy for many years. As a pastor, I love seeing growth over people and ministries over a long time. I am often reminded that ministry is marathon, not a sprint. The joy is seeing the small victories and growth throughout the journey. And today I saw just that…
I am on the sports camp team during the day. That means that I get to play basketball and volleyball with tons of Dominican Republic kids while they are waiting to go through our medical clinic. It is a chaotic site. Tons of kids running around and balls flying through the air with reckless abandonment.
The sports team always has to have one person guard our bottled water and backpacks while the other members of the team play with the kids. This one person has to be tough and very attentive because these kids while try to sneak past you and are always jonesing for a bottled water.
The past two days I have noticed one particular girl seemingly rummaging through our stuff. Picking up our bags; grabbing basketballs that are not supposed to be touched; etc. Being the protective student pastor that I am, I ran over there to see what was going down.
This girl, who is in the Mission of Mercy project, was not doing anything malicious. In fact, she was organizing our stuff and helping us protect our stuff. In other words, she was serving us.
It is so amazing seeing growth in people. It is so amazing to watch a girl who for years has been served by Mission of Mercy, the local church, and so many others starting to serve others. She did not have anybody tell her to help. She simply saw a need and decided to meet that need. She served.
I share this story with you because organizations like Mission of Mercy and Compassion International are making a huge difference. People around the world are loving and serving kids who are learning how to love and serve others.
And that is beautiful.
