Chair Scrubbin

Today I got to scrub chairs and it was awesome (no, I'm not crazy)! We‘re in Dallas with a small team of adults from our church to help our friends at SOUL Church do what they do every single week. They have this incredible ministry that sets up in a vacant parking lot every Sunday morning, starting long before the sun rises to drink in the night sky. In fact, it’s an operation that requires hours of labor from a broad variety of team members all week long. Building a mobile outdoor set and preparing food for their church of primarily homeless individuals in downtown Dallas is quite the undertaking. A week or two each year, we get to join the team and offer a little reprieve for our friends. They work tirelessly to meet practical needs and share the love of Jesus weekly to hundreds of people. Food donations by the truckload are funneled through their ministry and distributed to several communities throughout the week. Preparation for Sunday service requires equipment to be cleaned, food preparation and a multitude of other things. Previously, our visits have included van loads of teenagers and we have spent our time keeping them busy and putting out fires (sometimes literal ones). I love taking teens on these eye opening, life changing adventures, but this time is different. We have a team of 10 mostly competent adults and get to dig in ourselves and do the “dirty work”. I’ve never been so happy about washing tables and chairs. As I jammed out to my latest worship playlist and scrubbed brown sticky mystery substances from the seats and backs of chairs, I was able to pray for those that would be finding rest in them tomorrow. I prayed for the tangeable love of God to surround them and alter the course of lives eternally. I prayed that the hugs, that will inevitably fill that empty parking lot, will scream and unforgettable message of unending love and acceptance. I am so thankful for the opportunity to share the love of Jesus through an act as simple as scrubbing a chair. I think sometimes, in our desire to do great things for the kingdom, we miss the little opportunities in front of us every day. Little, practical ways we can share love that can make a world of difference to someone. It's not just a few weeks of the year on a mission trip kind of thing, it's an every day thing. What can you do today to make the lives around you better? How can you share the love of Jesus through an action that screams louder than any words you could ever utter? If your eyes are open and your heart is ready to love on people, the opportunities are literally all around us! I'd love to hear about your stories!