Love in the trenches

  And the King will say, "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the lest of these my brothers and sisters, you where doing it for me!"

Mathew 25:40

What is ministry?  What does it look like?

A ditch is not the first thing that may come to mind when you say you are involved in ministry.  A shovel, pipe, pry-bar and some sweat equity are not usually tools associated with sharing the Gospel of Christ.  But if you read the New Testament closely you will see these would be the tools most likely for Jesus to have used.  Christ spoke to those in need where they where.  He talked fishing to fishermen, planting to the farmers, and even about debts to tax collectors.  Christ comes to people in need where they are.  He does not wait for someone to bring them to church.  He doesn't depend on organizations to meet there needs.  He loves them now.  Listens to there needs, and helps to meet those needs. 

Sometimes the physical need was meet as a means to introduce the Gospel and yet others the physical need was used a tool to open there hearts to the Gospel.  Christ was about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and healing the sick.  Should we as His followers not be doing the same.  Look around your city and I would imagine you can quickly identify a need if you look with your heart and not just your eyes. 

Christ came that through His perfect life, voluntary death in our place on the cross, and His resurrection we may be saved to glorify God the father.  It is simple to understand, simple to explain, but hard for us to share.  Why?  We are afraid of conflict maybe.  Afraid we won't know what to say, or even afraid we are not good enough.

We are called to make disciple's in the book of Acts.  Not some of us, all of us.  Give your life to ministry in the name of Christ and see what might happen.  Whether serving in a nursing home playing games with some senior saints.  Cutting firewood for those in poor health, serving in a soup kitchen to share the food of life.  The opportunities are endless, and the reward of being in Gods will is unexplainable. 

What a day.

Dec 15th was such a blessing.  It was an honor to see Gods people gather together to serve the forgotten at Christmas.  We where able to join with Barnardsville Baptist in providing smiles through gifts for some of the forgotten of Western North Carolina.  Once a year Craggy allows home made food inside there walls for the prisoners.  Each Christmas churches and ministries across WNC come together to bake items to put a smile on the face and some sugar in the bellies of the often forgotten souls that may have made a mistake in there life.  It was an honor to see the love poured into these 25 bags that will go to people who in Gods eyes are important and need love.  Psalm 50 talks about the restoration that David sought.  I pray that these bags and notes of encouragement will be a show of Gods love that points them toward Christ this Christmas season.

We where also able to put together over 30 backpacks full of items to go to nursing home residents.  We all know how busy Christmas can be and often times these precious elders can be forgotten in the busyness of the season.  Asheville is the home to many transplants and business people, both of which are sometimes away this time of year.  Please remember to take time to give the most precious gift this season, your time.  A smile, hug, or a kind word is often all these wonderful people would like for Christmas.

We also received a call tonight from Honduras letting us know the rough grading was finished and ready to go.  Next step digging footers.  We are awaiting the cost estimate for this stage.  This will include the digging, rock and block 18 inches deep, and all the labor to put it in place.  This will be a considerable cost that we must take care of before March.  Please consider us when making your Christmas gift list this year. $5 dollars would go a long way if we all gave. www.youtube.com/user/thecarpentersheart#p/a/u/1/APAf2cWE-S0