Day 205 — I’ll Be the Carrier

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. — James 1:27 (NASB)

Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created.  When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”

Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink?  When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?”

The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” — Matthew 25:34-40 (CEV)

So many things have been going on in the Simants house over the past several weeks.  God has been moving in our lives and directing our steps.  It’s been quite the adventure, and has been nothing short of an ongoing lesson in faith.  Yet, as Hebrews 11:1 tells us, faith is action.  It demands God’s people to be missional.

I could (and someday (soon) will) give you a background lesson on how I’ve come to know faith, love and grace as characteristics that demand a missional response.  I will say this much now, as you grow closer to God and come to know the awesomeness and bigness of God, then you will apply yourself to the work of God.  sksimants and I have separately, but simultaneously, come to know the heart of God for orphans, widows and the poor.

For sksimants and I, the work of God has taken on a four pronged approach.  I won’t take time to get into the details of each prong, yet should note that one of the prongs is the youth.  Another of those prongs is missions.  We’re not exactly sure the extent to which God is going to direct us in this prong, yet do know that there is a requirement for us to do (at least part of) this work under the authority of our home church — Asbury United Methodist.  To that end, we are engaging ourselves in the local missional work of the church (feeding the hungry, servant evangelism, etc).  Yet, are also undertaking larger missional efforts.

Tying the two aforementioned prongs together is our adventure that begins tomorrow.  We will be joining Ellen Brown, Asbury’s Youth Minister, and the youth from the church on a missions trip to the inner-city of Memphis, Tennessee.  We will be working with SOS-Memphis.  In Memphis, we will be working on the homes of people who are in need.  Additionally (and most importantly), we will be able to minister the love of God and the salvation of Christ to those people.

We believe that this is the first of what will be many mission trips.  As I said earlier, we don’t know all of the twists and turns that God has plotted on this pathway, yet we know that when God calls you respond.

We ask that you keep us in your prayers and thoughts as we progress through the next seven days.  We know it won’t be easy, but we also know that the lives of those whom we will touch are anything at all but easy.  Pray for us that we might be full of God’s love, examples of God’s mercy, carriers of God’s grace, and that we will be full of faith.

Also, keep an eye out here.  I’ll try to update as I can through the week both here, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Finally, below is what has become something of a theme song for us.  It is called “Carrier” and was written by Jared Anderson.