SPREAD THE LIGHT

TODAY: Pray for The Church of the Good Shepherd’s latest Katrina work teams that go to New Orleans next week and during Holy Week. Look for a future project and opportunity to be one of those future “first-time team members.”

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul urges us to look to others’ interests over our own, to empty ourselves, to become vulnerable, like Christ did for us. To me, this means suffering or identifying with persons wherever they are. I need to step completely out of my own daily routine and comfortableness for this to happen.

Over the years, God has nudged me into cities, to the Appalachian hills, to an Indian reservation, to prisons. I’ve never ventured out alone. God first puts together a team of persons who are also willing to be vulnerable, who become the body of Christ for one another as well as for our intended “recipients.”

My deepest joy is seeing first-time team members being blessed by the experience much more than they could ever have imagined. We return more deeply aware of others’ needs, with determination to go out again, but even more importantly, to be more Christ-like back home.

Hopelessness abounds everywhere. God needs each and every one of us to share the light of His love SOMEWHERE with SOMEONE, right now, this very minute. Come on, let’s get going together!

— Ginny Johnson

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist