The mission trip teams that come each week never fail to open my eyes to learning something new.
Each day we run a kids club with the Salvation Army in the morning, and this week we started another kids club at the Autumn Woods Apartments in Bladensburg, Maryland. At first, we were not very sure what to expect.
As we pulled up to the apartments, we saw a group of kids playing football outside. They quickly stopped to come over and meet us. Once names were exchanged, we brought out crafts and relationships began to form. A lot of the boys there are very active and were ready to play sports outside.
Thankfully, this team had a lot of young men that were more than willing and excited to play with them. Every day this team showed love to these kids by simply playing football, kickball, or whiffle ball in 95-degree heat. The kids loved having older guys to play with them, and it was very encouraging to see the role models they were setting. This team may never know the impact that they had on these kids, and in the end, the pressure is not on us to make sure the kids understand or get something out of the Bible lesson.
We are called to love unconditionally as God’s light shines through us.
This is exactly what I saw the team doing this week. Each week we have been studying Colossians three with the team. We talk about what a life “hidden in Christ” looks like. When we are living a life hidden in Christ, it becomes less and less about what we do and more and more about how we need to step back and allow God to work. All that is needed, is for us to surrender our plans, our desires and to show up, be present, and to look for the ways that God is already working and will continue to work. It was beautiful to see this team living out a life hidden in Christ, not making ministry about themselves, but always giving the glory back to God.
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