Real Effort

Tomorrow I will be going to St. Louis with a group from my church. It’s a bit of a missions trip. To be really honest, I don’t know all the details. I do know that we will be giving out food to people in need.

First, I want to say that this is the kind of stuff that I get excited about. The church does a lot of goofy stuff. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But what we’re doing is meeting people where they’re at and giving them something they need. This I love. These kinds of things give us, as the church, the opportunity to be real. We get to show God’s love, plain and simple. No strings attached, and no gimmicks. We’re meeting a need in a community, and hopefully something spiritual will happen as well.

The second thing I want to talk about is how I got to go. Right now I don’t have job or any other consistent form of income. What I mean to say is, my wallet is flat. Trips like this cost money, luckily this one wasn’t too expensive. Still, even though the cost wasn’t high, I still couldn’t afford it. But I lucked out.

My birthday is November 24th. As it turned out, the cost for this missions trip was pretty much exactly the same as the amount of money that my parents usually spend for my birthday. Things lined up perfectly.

So, I asked for a missions trip for my birthday.

I don’t write these words to brag – there’s nothing to brag about. I’m not in any way trying to make myself sound like a better person – I’m not. I just want to let you know what I’ve learned from this.

I think that most of the time we try to think of ways that we can make a big impact, at the expense of the little impacts. If you ever get me in a conversation on the subject, I will tell you with regret that I can’t give money because I don’t have any. I will tithe whatever money I do get, but I obviously can’t give what I don’t have. The act of giving up presents this year so I can be a part of something bigger then myself should have been an easy conclusion.

I would focus on what I wish I could do, which is what I can’t do. Instead I should have been focusing on what I can do. I can do these little things.

What would I have gotten for my birthday? Probably just some money so I can save up for some stuff I need. Or maybe some clothes. I don’t even know. But I can get all those things later. This is what I should be doing now.

Like I said, I’m not rich. So I like to seize every opportunity to get stuff. I don’t think it’s necessarily greed, it’s just fact. It’s kind of a sacrifice for me to give up birthday presents. But, not only do I think it’s healthy, I think there’s something Christian about it. This is such a small sacrifice. So terribly small. I shouldn’t even worry about it. People all over are sacrificing so much more. I don’t even want to compare my sacrifice to that of Jesus.

I just want to encourage you to put some real effort into your faith. Find what you can do, and then do it. I’ve heard of people asking friends and family to donate money to charity in their name for their birthday. I never thought I’d so something similar. What can you do? What will you do?

Grace | Peace | Love

-Josh

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