A family mission’s trip is as diverse as they come. They youngest on this trip was six and the oldest seventy six. The beauty of this particular trip was not in the amount of participants, (almost 80 people) but in the diversity. There were young and old. There were male and female. There were working and retired. There were skilled and unskilled. There were people from every season of life. This is what the body of Christ looks like.
One the first two mornings of my first missions trip as a Project Leader, I was privileged to take three small groups to work with "Live It!" There, we learned what ministry can look like outside of the four walls of a church. Denomination did not matter. Theology was not an issue. All that mattered was loving on people like Jesus would. Serving one another and showing the love of Christ. Live It! takes the Bible out of the box and does as James instructed: "…look after orphans and widows in their distress…"
So, with tools in hand, I watched as young men of 16 worked alongside of men and women 60 years older. Girls of ten worked tirelessly next to moms, and grandmas. They hauled wood; they cut down bushes and trees. They mowed yards and sipped juice boxes in the shade. They even fought off swarms of stinging insects to serve. They moved piles of wood and mountains of clothes. They worked like beasts of burden, but took delight in every moment.
How? The work was intense. The heat was bothersome, but the joy and satisfaction on the faces of the men and women who served with 'Live It!' was evident. In every moment, caked in grime, and grass, and sweat, the joy of the Lord shone through.
No matter where we are, there is work to be done, lives full out for Jesus to be lived. There is an adventure awaiting you. Will you find it in Appalachia?
