Peculiar People Doing Extraordinary Work in Service to Our King

Peculiar People

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of God who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."  1 Peter 2:9

 

In the first few verses of the book of Jonah, we meet a man who hears God calling him to go on a journey.  God calls to Jonah and tells him to go to Ninevah to preach and teach there because it is a wicked place.  We don't really know why, but the Bible says, "Jonah ran away from the Lord." Jonah 1:3.  For some reason, Jonah really did not want to go to Ninevah, so instead, he went down to the sea, bought a ticket, and set sail for Tarshish.  He was getting out of Dodge, and hoping he could hide from God's purpose for his life.

 

Look at the picture posted above.  Does it look like Ninevah to you?  It certianly does to me.  No one in their right mind would want to go there.  No one would long to be there.  It is a picture of destruction, devastation, pain and sorrow.  It is messy.  It is dangerous.  It is complicated and exhausting.  It is hard to even look at it and not feel tired.

 

Do you ever feel like God is calling you to do something you really don't want to do?

 

We all know the rest of Jonah's story.  You can't run away from God.  The Lord sent a mighty storm that nearly destroyed Jonah's ship.  He woke up from deep sleep in the ship and saw the distress of his fellow sailors.  He knew that God had found him.  He asked the other men to throw him into the sea, and instantly, the waters calmed.  God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah up.

 

Jonah prays fervently to God from the belly of the fish.  "Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them.  But I, with shouts of grateful praise will sacrifice to you.  What I have vowed, I will make good."  Jonah 2:8-9.

 

In the weeks and months preceeding April 27, 2011, Central Church of Christ was undergoing a transformation, although I'm not sure we knew it.  Mission Athens had been formed, and we were in the early stages of trying to establish this ministry as a light for those who had the greatest needs in our community.  We all felt like God was calling us to be disciples, and we were trying, but we weren't quite sure we knew what we were doing.

 

Then, on April 27, a massive storm struck our state and worked to get our attention.  Over 100 devastating tornadoes ripped through Alabama that day.  Power was out for thousands in our community for over a week.  Lives, property, hearts and souls were ripped apart and shredded to pieces. 

 

The soldiers of Christ at Central responded.  We opened a Tornado Relief Center at our church.  This blog was born.  Supplies were donated, volunteers were coordinated, people were fed, and we helped so many people put their lives back together.

 

It was messy.  We didn't do everything right.  We got really tired.  But mostly, we glowed with the light that comes from our heavenly Father who gave us the strength and inspiration we needed to get through that terrible storm.

 

In many ways, in the midst of all that devastation and ugliness, the people of God never looked more beautiful.  We were never more radiant than in those dark days.

 

Time goes on.  Life goes on.  Central Church of Christ has grown so much since 2011.  We are now offering two services on Sunday mornings.  We have a new, larger ministry team.  Mission Athens is a thriving community ministry with a permanent presence in the heart of Athens with The Haven.  Life at Central is good, and the people of Central are doing good work.

 

Then, a peculiar thing happened.

 

Last Monday, devastating tornadoes once again struck Limestone County. 

 

This time, we immediately responded, opening as a Red Cross shelter a few hours after the tornadoes touched down. 

 

Throughout last week, it was easy to feel God's presence at Central Church of Christ.  Women came first, setting up supplies, cooking food, making strong coffee, and ministering to storm victims who were devastated with the loss of loved ones.  These women dove right in to the work, doing everything up to and including rocking babies, and even bathing those poor, broken and battered people who needed the love of Jesus on what was surely the worst night of their lives.

Then came the men the next day with their strong backs and their chain saws.  Everyone worked together to unload trucks, set up cots, organize supplies, cut trees, clear debris, clean up the mess.  The youth group, the young adults, the women's ministry, and the young at heart group worked together with our friends from the community like the football team, the Baptist church, the Methodist church, hundreds of volunteers from every walk of life to support storm victims and do whatever needed to be done.

 

There are so many stories of heroism, big and small, that come to the surface during these trials.  The story of the little girl who donated clothes and toys and included a note that simply said, "I love you."  The story of the sweet church lady who refused to go home but who stayed at the church working day and night despite her own health problems.  The stories of our ministry team sharing the good news of Jesus and His unfailing love with people who so desperately needed His peace....all of these stories inspire me to be a better disciple.

When disaster strikes, most people immediately take care of themselves and their own families, which is a good and worthy thing to do.  Many people, upon discovering their power will be out for a few days, drive to the next town and check into a hotel, or go and stay with relatives.  These would be considered "normal" responses, right?

How peculiar, how incredibly strange, to see so many hundreds of people sacrifice themselves in the service of others.  How beautiful to watch men take vacation time from their jobs to cut trees and break their backs helping complete strangers.  How marvelous to know that people love the Lord so much that they would work day and night in service to Him so that others may feel His love in their hour of need.

God called Jonah to do work that he did not want to do.  No one at Central Church of Christ would have chosen to become a church that specializes in disaster relief.  It is incredibly hard, messy, emotional, exhausting and frustrating.  Yet, it is when we do the things we think we cannot do that we rely most heavily on God's strength to get us through.  He is made perfect in our weakness.

You could not look anywhere at Central Church of Christ last week and not see God's light shining.  He was there in the dark night of the storm.  It was His hands who comforted the mourning souls, His heart that lead us to pray with the devastated.  His feet lead us out into the destroyed communities, and His love lead us to lift and work and sacrifice our time in backbreaking labor to help our neighbors.

God is love, and His love lifted us to one of our finest hours.

If you are looking for a special place filled with imperfect people who love to serve a mighty God, please come and visit us at Central Church of Christ.  Don't wait for a natural disaster to get busy serving Him.  We need you now.  We have so much work to do.  Like Jonah, we have been tested, and we believe in God's purpose for our lives and our church.  What we have vowed, we will make good.

We are a peculiar people.




Help Wanted at The Haven

Today is Saturday...one of my favorite days of the week!  Great time to sit back, relax, and enjoy time with the family.  It is also a great time to reflect on the week that has passed and plan for the one to come.

As you think about this past week, what did you accomplish?  Did you wrap up a big project at work?  Did your child finish one sporting season last week and are you getting ready to start another next week?  Did you stick to your New Year's Resolution to eat right and exercise or did you find yourself in the drive thru yet again?

If you are like me, you checked a few things off your to do list, but there are probably more left to be done. 

A tougher question to answer is this one...how many seeds did you plant in the kingdom of God last week?

As I think back on my week, I hope that the colleagues I worked with felt His love through my leadership and actions, but if I'm honest, I probably missed some opportunities to talk about Jesus and how good He has been to me.

If I'm brutally honest, I wasted quite a bit of time playing Candy Crush when I could have been reading the Bible or praying with my children.

It's hard in the moment to realize we are missing opportunities or wasting time.  Sometimes we just get all wrapped up in the day and become hypnotized by the whirlwind of modern life.  The truth is, I probably spend more time telling my kids to brush their teeth and find their shoes than I do praying with them about their day ahead.  Maybe next week, I will do better.

Whenever we talk about Mission Athens at Central, we are overwhelmed by the support and interest that our church family feels for this ministry.  I believe there is genuine love and appreciation for the Dollar Club and for the work we are doing in the 5th Avenue area of town at The Haven.  Lots of people just like me think "I want to do more at The Haven.  I will try to make it over there next week."  But then life happens, the phone rings, the iPad dings with another email, and we are back in our weekly dance of rush, rush, rush.  Then Saturday comes, and we think, "What did I really accomplish this week?"

I would like to challenge everyone who is reading this blog to do SOMETHING in the week ahead to help the ministry at The Haven.  There are three times when we need volunteers.  Tuesdays from 3:30-4:30 and Thursdays from 3:30-4:30 we offer tutoring and homework help.  Thursday evenings at 6:30 we host a Bible study for the families we help with the Dollar Club each week.  At all three times, we like to offer snacks to our guests.  We always need yard work help.  We just got new tables and chairs last week, and we continue to need new books and materials for our library.  We need iTunes cards so we can load educational games for the kids to play.  We need WalMart gift cards so we can buy cleaning supplies and snacks.  The list of ways to help is long.

Most of all, we need people to show up.  We need volunteers who can commit just one hour a week, and our most desperate need is for tutoring on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  We have a core group of incredible women who we know will be there, rain or shine.  But now that we are a year into this ministry, these ladies are getting a little tired.  It would be wonderful to have enough volunteers that we can count on so that these helpers could have an afternoon off every now and then.

You may be thinking that you couldn't possibly tutor anyone, but you are wrong.  If you can read, write, and add and subtract, you can help these kids.  If you can't, you can still come and just "visit" with them.  They love it!  We are averaging over 20 kids each afternoon, and now that the temperatures are rising, we may have even more.  We desperately need helpers who can talk with the kids and just be a friendly face for them.

Beyond those opportunities, what else can you do to help this ministry?  We have a wish list.  We would love to begin to offer some "enrichment" activities for the kids beyond just the two afternoon homework help sessions.  It would be great to host a painting class one day.  Many of these kids have never been to the movies, and we would love to organize a field trip to the movies one weekend.  Perhaps you can sing and could organize a day to teach the kids a few songs.  What can you do?  How can you use that talent to help out at The Haven?

Please take a moment to think about your week ahead.  Can you find some extra time or money and use it to plant some seeds?  Can you help out at the Haven?  You will be richly and abundantly blessed by your service.  If you talk to any of our regular volunteers, you will see a huge smile as they talk about how much they love the children and how much they have loved getting to know each other better, too.  It is such a wonderful opportunity right here in our backyard to be the hands and feet of Jesus. 

Please talk with Tanya Griffin and Beth Patton about ways you can help.  Take some time each Tuesday and Thursday to pray for the work at The Haven.  Thank you so much for your support of Mission Athens!  Together, all of us are planting little seeds of God's love in this community.  It will be so much fun to harvest them through the years together!

"The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose.  Yet they will be rewarded individually, according to their own hard work."  1 Corinthians 3:6-8