A call to service

This is a photo of me and Ed Anderson, the CEO of the non-profit I work for, Healing Waters International. Ed exemplifies the idea of Servant Leadership and demonstrated that to me so much this week. . .

Social service organizations and non-profits are really getting hit hard right now due to the economic downturn. The bitter irony is that their services are needed now more than ever. Soup kitchens are seeing a drop in volunteerism and a rise in people that are coming to them in need of food. Low-cost and free medical clinics are experiencing the same thing, drop in support and rise in patients. I heard a statistic that 20% of all non-profits will cease to exist within the next 18 months. Victims of the economic recession. . .

As Christians, we are called to service, and as the economy continues to kick us while we are down, I challenge you to look up and look out and see how you can help.

I am still reading the "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction" and just got done leading a study on chapter 5 this morning at work. Chapter 5 focuses on Psalm 123 and the notion of service. I really liked this quote on page 67-68:

"God's people are everywhere and always encouraged to work for the liberation of others, helping to free them from every form of bondage - religious, economic, cultural, political - that sin uses to stunt or thrwart or cramp their lives. . . Those who parade the rhetoric of liberation but scorn the wisdom of service do not lead people into the glorious liberty of the children of God but into a cramped and covetous squalor. ¶ As Psalm 123 prays the transition from oppression (“kicked in the teeth by complacent rich men”) to freedom (“awaiting your word of mercy”) to a new servitude (“like servants alert to their master’s commands”), it puts us in the way of learning how to use our freedom most appropriately, under lordship of a merciful God. The consequences are positive. I have never yet heard a servant Christian complain of the oppressiveness of his servitude. I have never yet heard a servant Christian rail against the restrictions of her service. A servant Christian is the freest person on earth."

In these tough times, let's strive for our freedom by becoming better servants of God and serving others. That could mean volunteering, or just sitting and listening to a friend or neighbor who is struggling. As hard as it is to focus externally while we are hurting so much internally, that may just be what will get us out of this crisis and turn things around.