Mark 10:45a, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve”
For as long as I can remember, serving others, especially those less fortunate than me, has been a vital part of my life. I can vividly remember when I was about 5 years old Dad and his small group from church decided to do a service project in our neighborhood. The project was cleaning up an elderly lady’s yard of overgrown brush, head-high grass, and fallen limbs. I was very young, but I remember it like it was yesterday. My dad continues to maintain her yard 20 years later.
When the opportunity arose this past summer for our youth here at Grace to serve foster care parents in a practical way, I knew we needed to make it happen. I was excited to organize a group to assist. Something as simple as cleaning up a yard goes a long way for all involved. So, on a beautiful Saturday morning in July, we joined two other local churches to connect with three foster care families to work in their yards. We pulled weeds, ran the weed eater, ran blowers from rooftops, dug up old flowerbeds, and even transported a load of rocks.
The families that we were able to assist were impacted more than we could have ever imagined. The most impactful moment came when the mother thanked the group once we were finished. She broke down into tears as she explained that it is a struggle to foster on a day in day out basis.
Sometimes it can be easy to forget that God is always with them. She ended by saying our small gesture of serving showed them that God does truly see them, and we served as their visual of God’s provision over them! I hope that our youth connect with how a simple act of kindness and service goes an extremely long way! Yes, the practicality of pulling some weeds may seem trivial, but God uses even pulling weeds for His glory. I encourage all of you, if the opportunity is available to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the community around you, do it!
~~ Collin Sherrill