Making a Change. . .

Ministry Ideas                                                           11-26-09 (Thanksgiving)

Hello, everyone. I have had a strong conviction on my heart for the past couple months or more. As many of you already know, there is a serious need in our community in regard to various forms of poverty, whether it takes the place of food, clothing, shelter, employment, medical attention, transportation, etc. I don’t yet know how deep this need really is, but I have already seen significant evidence that it is real. I feel strongly that God has placed on my heart a mission to alleviate some of this need. There a re great programs out there, but obviously they are not enough. Try as they may, there are still people all around suffering in one way or another. I feel a personal calling to make a difference, even if it is just for one person. And I believe that as I step out on faith, God will place others in my path with the same heart to help this ministry grow into something relevant, both in our community, and in the world at large. Thank you all for expressing an interest in helping. We need as many people involved as we can get. God has big plans for each of us, and I am excitedly awaiting their realization.

I have already spoken to some of you about my ideas for this ministry, and they have been well-received by all. Allow me to explain some of them in detail, but I must warn you. Sometimes I tend to ramble, especially when I get to writing about several topics at once. Please excuse the randomness, and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments regarding this letter. My contact info is at the bottom.

Our mission is to share God’s love to our world by showing it through the way we live, in the things we do and say, and through the way we give, of ourselves, our time, our finances, talents, etc. We are called to be the Hands and Feet of Christ. He came to love, and we are to follow in His footsteps.

The purpose of this ministry is to help alleviate some of the burden that people in our community face on a daily basis, whatever form it may take. It could mean supporting local homeless shelters, food banks, goodwill organizations, etc. or it could be something completely new and different. Wherever God is leading us is where we need to go. If there is not currently an organization that covers these things, we should start one. Whatever the need, we are here to help fill it. It may be through donations of money, time, material goods, services, cooking and delivering food, or any manner of things. The point is, that as God’s people, we are to look out for those around us. Lots of these people may not even know God, and we may be the only example of Jesus that they see. But He said, ‘If you did any of these things to the least of these, you did them to me.’ In reality, we are all the ‘least of these.’ God has brought each one of us through some pretty terrible times, and not one of us deserves it. We could very easily be in the same position as any one of these people, except that we all have people to whom we can turn. These people in need, lots of them have no family or friends to turn to, and nowhere to go. The only home they have is what they can carry down the streets. This simply isn’t right. Something must be done about their situations.

Of course it would be foolish to say that we will totally obliterate poverty and homelessness throughout the world, or even throughout this area. But this is clearly our goal, nonetheless. The foolish part is in thinking that we can do this on our own. Even if we can’t reach the whole world, we can reach OUR world. And if other people will rise up to this challenge and reach THEIR world, then pretty soon the whole world will be reached. We need to dream big, but start small. As Mother Teresa said, “If you can’t feed 100, feed just one.” That is where we must start. There really is no point for us to assume we can take care of some far-off city’s struggles, when our own community is victim to these same things. We need to start at home, where we are. This is the best way for us to be effective in helping others. We are reasonably settled and comfortable here, for the most part. There’s no need to move this ministry outside our immediate community. There are plenty of needy people right here in our hometown. Eventually, we hope to spread this ministry as far as God will carry it, hopefully to the ends of the Earth.

This is a calling God has placed on my heart personally, and I don’t expect everyone else to share in this same passion. But some of you will, or may know someone who will want to help. Lots of us can ask, ‘How can I help anyone if I am barely scraping by?’ I can certainly ask this question. Naturally, the first response is to assess our personal financial situation, determining whether we have enough extra to give and still live comfortably, not really affecting our overall financial status. But this is not really giving in love. This is us caring enough to say ‘God bless you’ or ‘I hope everything turns out okay,’ but not really caring enough to actually DO something about their struggle. I wish God would place such a burden on our hearts that we could no longer bear to live this way. That from now on, WE would take charge and say ‘I know something needs to be done. I know you’re hurting, and I really want to help, even if no one else will.’ And most of the time, this is the case. If we don’t reach out and be that help, who will? Should we allow the government to shoulder the responsibility that God has placed on us? If the government were functioning under God’s direction, they would be taking care of these things. But this isn’t reality. Reality comes at you every morning with a smack to the head saying ‘How am I going to pay the bills that are already overdue, while managing to survive long enough to see the next batch of them come in?’ maybe this isn’t the case with you, but it certainly is reality for a lot of us. We feel limited in or ability to help, because we have nothing to offer, nothing to give. So we don’t, and the cycle continues. Some of us may well be on the verge of needing the very same assistance, so how could we possibly be of any benefit to someone else? But the truth is, we all have something to give, and most of the time it has nothing to do with money. Sure, money is essential in a material world, but thank God we don’t operate on finance alone. We all have unique abilities or gifts that God has graciously shared with us, and He has done so not for us to hoard them to ourselves or our families. These things have been given to us in order that we might share them with others, thereby fulfilling God’s intended purpose for such gifts, drawing closer to Him and to others by surrendering these gifts to His use, and ultimately in bringing glory to God.

God loves each and every one of us equally, but uniquely. There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, or less. His love is perfect, unconditional, never-changing, never-ending, and never less than everything we need. This is a tough concept to grasp, as our first instinct is bent on self-preservation and survival, whether it focuses on us, our spouse, or our children. But we are children of God, called to live as He lives, to love as He loves. We must all overcome our personal will and selfish pride in order to really live in God’s love. This is not something we can do on our own, or all at once. Like everything else, it is a process that God will carry us through in His timing, and according to His perfect will. We just have to be willing to surrender everything to Him in order to become the people He has created us to be.

I know I have seemingly strayed far off-subject, but even the tangents are linked to the main idea. In simplest terms, we can boil it all down to one word: LOVE. This is not something we feel, but something we do. This is not something we try to understand, but something we become. God is love, and so we must be love. In order to do this, we must throw off the chains of self that have us all so bound up; we must focus our attention on what God wants us to see. In essence, to see with His eyes. This will help us to love with His heart. God gave us 10 commandments to follow, to draw us closer to Him, and to help us live in peace with our world. Jesus, in all His wisdom, simplified it down to two commands; to love God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength… with everything we are. And to love our neighbors as we love ourselves… placing as much value and priority on others as we do on our own lives and families…

All these commands can be summed up in one word: LOVE. This is what we are to do, all the time, with all we are. This is what we are to be, love… Jesus said that this one word sums up all the law and the prophets; that it would not replace the law, but fulfill it; that there is no law against it; and that there is no greater love than to sacrifice yourself for the benefit of someone else, to ‘lay down your life for your friends.’ He demonstrated this love by personally taking responsibility for all of us, for all the wrongs we have done and will do… and HE didn’t do anything wrong at all!

The love Jesus speaks of is AGAPE, the selfless, sacrificial love that places others above ourselves. As His followers, we are ultimately heading toward this destination. Every day that we surrender our will to His will brings us one step closer to the perfect love that God is, and that we are called to be.

I know I’ve said a lot without really saying much; but there really is a method to this madness. I don’t know where each of you are in your personal commitment to such a ministry, but I feel it is paramount to get the message on my heart out to each of you in order that we may bring about some Christ-like change to our community. This is definitely something on my heart, and I thank God for each one who feels a similar calling, who is willing to step up and help me. This is a huge undertaking, and there is no way I can handle it on my own. But I have spoken to several of you so far, and everyone has responded with very positive and encouraging words. Thank you so much. Now is the hard part. We need to develop some sort of plan on how to actually help this community (the people I mean, not the town). I am always open to suggestions, and actually look forward to any input you may have. I ask that each of us will take this matter to God, and seek His plan for it. We may all have great ideas, but if it’s not in His will, it won’t succeed.

Anyway, I guess the best thing to do right now is make some sort of outline, expressing the intentions of this ministry, which has yet to be named. I have a few ideas, but haven’t settled on any one just yet. As I develop them more I will share them with you. Some names I’ve been tossing around are:

Hands And Feet
Live Love
29:11 (Hope & a Future)

As I mentioned, I am totally up for any ideas that will bring about God’s glory through this. I will take all the help I can get. God bless each one of you. I look forward to working with you in making a difference in this community.

Objectives:

1. To share the love of God with less-fortunate people in our community
   
   
2. To provide these people with the things they need in order to have normal, healthy lives
   
   
3. To draw those in need, as well as ourselves, closer to God through the experience of living out His love
   
   
4. To actually make an impact on our community in a way that honors Christ and brings Him glory

How we go about these things will vary from day to day, I’m sure. The point is to open our eyes to the needs around us, and to do everything we can to help fill these needs, whatever they may be. Whatever it takes. To get to the ends of the Earth, we have to start right here. Let us say, ‘Here am I. Send me.’ Let us live love…

Jason Grimm

anomylyth@gmail.com

276-920-1405

Burden the Sky

Burden the Sky... this is one of those profound, possibly life-changing revelations that wake you up in the middle of REM sleep (which, contrary to popular belief, i can enter almost immediately upon closing my eyes). That is exactly what happened. i had just drifted off to sleep for a few seconds, and i was immediately awakened with this phrase coming out of my mouth. i'm sure there was more to it in my sleep than i can remember, but the phrase itself has stuck with me, branding its home in the back of my mind... and i guess that's the most important part. i heard someone say that if you can't remember your dreams, it probably wasn't God talking to you. all i can remember is 'burden the sky.' i don't fully understand the meaning yet. don't know if it was a command, or some sort of mission i'm to complete, or just a cool name for a band or ministry... who knows? it could become the focus of my entire life...

in thinking on this, trying to decipher some relevance and meaning before i totally forgot the idea, a couple sccenarios or images came to mind. one thing really struck me in church this week when the pastor was praying for God to 'put the full weight of Heaven' behind the sermon. i was immediately distracted by the phrase he used, which i had heard plenty of times before. this time though, my visual brain, whatever side it was on that morning, started picturing things related to the full weight of Heaven. i saw all this heaviness, which i guess could be God's glory or His love for us, just pressing down on the Earth, kind of like placing something in a bench clamp. it was almost like the earth had a little emoticon saying 'this is too much pressure. i'm going to be crushed.' it was also a lot like the process of coal being formed into diamond; such relentless pressure and high heat... really brings up a lot of ideas of how God may be using us to change the face of the world.

another concept is from the other direction, with God's people offering up their praise and prayers to Him, almost as if the sky were acting as mediator between us and God... of course, this is not true. Christ is our Mediator, and our only way to the Father. so, the sky is receiving all this pressure from above and below, all the while still maintaining its status as our protector, shielding us from all the 'bad' things that could harm us, whether they take the form of UV rays, extreme heat, attacks from the enemy, or the wrath of God himself. Christ is our spiritual sky, and he has already bore our burdens. in this regard, we do burden the Sky. and in the same way, we are to continue to do so, by lifting up our praise and prayers; though this is a burden i know He will gladly bear as our Intercessor.

there are many more ideas i would like to discuss on this subject, but i'd rather not ramble. if anyone out there has an idea or a comment, feel free to post it. let us continue in God's love, encouraging and building one another up. let us live out the lives He has called us to. let us burden the sky. God bless.