AtACorner

In a recent post by Shaun Groves he shared how a church in India through their day to day (not exactly what some people would call normal) church activities, focused on services to help each other out and used these services as their witness. In comparison some church buildings sit idle waiting for Sunday services which we believe will cure what is wrong while the church body (people) are outside in need, lonely, and lost. He challenged us to reflect on our workplace, neighbors, communities and figure out what our witness was.

I have been reflecting and re-focusing on this for a while, attempting to listen to God’s calling for me personally. It is kind of scaring me and I am taking it slow to make sure I am listening and letting Him have control.

People that know me know that I am no stranger to volunteering and helping out. In 2003 after an unbelievable accident in which I walked away without a scratch and with no memory of the impact or sound of the accident I received a strong impulse to start focusing my efforts to find situations to help work with young people. Maybe not so great for my daughter at the time who was in high school but we always think our kids are our projects. See it made her want to laugh and ride on purple animals. Let's just say she taught me alot.

There is plenty of room for improvement starting with me but recently here are some of the things that may qualify as witnessing. We joined with some other churches and took 2 weeks hosting the Overnight Emergency Warming shelter for the homeless. We cooked and served meals, brought in hygiene supplies and provided a warm place to sleep.

On Easter Sunday we hosted our second annual Resurrection Meal. Anyone was welcome to eat a meal for free. There were over 100 Easter baskets donated for any children that attended. We served over 300 and all were welcomed with smiles and hugs.

Twice a month a small group comes together to prepare a free meal to be used at a program called Double Portions – Several churches working together to feed the hungry.

We have created Hygiene Kits and collected clothes for an organization called Friends of Haiti. Some of us have assisted on the bi-annual mission trips

I no longer want to randomly help out with no direction. Not too long ago on a particular Sunday at Mass the words "I have sinned in what I have done and what I have failed to do" jumped out at me. Great now I can’t even sit on the couch any more without sinning. It started last fall and I felt the call to become an advocate for Compassion International. It was more comfortable to sit back and quietly sponsor and write the children that I sponsor. It felt scary to ask someone else to sponsor a child even though I knew it is totally worth it. God has led me step by step so far and the door is still open. I started following Shaun’s blog and the Compassion blogs for inspiration. I started this blog to help share some of the information. Last night after several months preparation work I got the approval to speak at 2 churches this fall and to write articles about child sponsorship at another church. I am excited to see where the journey will go.