To Love and Serve!

I recently asked Leah, what's it like in Africa?  She said, "mom you just have to be here to see.  The culture is just different." .I asked if I'll come home wanting to change my lifestyle. She said its just 2 different cultures.  It's not right or wrong, it's just a different way of living.
This past weekend I was able to go with some of our church high schoolers to Roseland, Illinois.  It is a very poor area in Chicago.  We stayed in a woman's shelter.  We were able to make meals for homeless and work in a second hand store.  This was a different lifestyle, a different way of living.  People had many different stories as to how they got there, but they were there.
I did not come home feeling guilty for my way of living, I felt grateful.  I appreciated my family, job and opportunities so much more.  I had a drive to listen and help others, that was not there 3 days earlier.
While with the youth, we had a time of Bible study.  One of the kids said, "this is not an attractive mission trip."  And you think about it, it's not.  There was nothing glamorous about the weekend.  Nothing even clean about the weekend.  No beautiful scenery to see.  But it was all reality.  We are called to love others.  As a coworker recently said, "to have tolerance."  We need to have tolerance of each other, kindheartedness, and help one another.   We need to show our kids the world around us, so that they can make an impact.  It doesn't always look pretty.
I often think of memories I have from growing up.  And its less and less, the things I thought were most important my teenage years.  I don't remember basketball games, or many dances.  I remember some fun times with friends.  But I can recall the times I was able to serve others.  Vacation Bible school downtown New York, picking up trash along side the roads, visiting elderly with my dad on Sunday afternoons.  And I'm sure I grumbled about doing some of these things.
Thank you mom and dad for showing me others way of living and caring for others.
I hope and pray we get more opportunities to go with our girls on these excursions.  Megan said to me, "this was my first mission trip."  I pray there are many more to come for all the girls.