PEA RIDGE — What does it mean to be the hands and feet of Jesus?
How would you answer that in your own life? From a distance, would others say that you are being the hands and feet of Jesus?
There are days when you would be able to see Jesus in my life and days when I fail. The idea of being the hands and feet of Jesus is something that we talk about in churches and when we see it in action, it can make a lasting impact.
Our student ministry recently went on a mission trip to Memphis to serve at Camp Barnabas. The camp actually started in Purdy, Mo., but they are branching out to go national. Camp Barnabas is a camp for special needs children where they can go do the things that they might be limited in doing at other camps.
So they have a wide range of special need children through young adults that have different disabilities.
Then they bring in teenagers and adults to serve as CIA’s (Christian In Action).
They go everywhere the campers go and help them with daily needs.
Some of the campers need help with bathing, getting dressed, eating and walking. Others are self-sufficient and you lead them to different activities. Regardless of the need of the person, our mission was to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
It was an incredible week and one that I think would change just about anyone that serves there.
This was our first year to serve there so we really didn’t know what to expect.
A few things from that trip have really touched my life and I pray that I’m never the same. I didn’t realize how quickly teenagers and adults would connect with the campers. They connected really quick and made friendships that will last past the week that we were there. I would stand back from the crowd and watch people serve. Sometimes being the hands and feet of Jesus just needs to be fun!
I can take things so serious but serving Jesus should be fun. I watched as teenagers and adults had fun. When they had fun, the campers also had fun.
Some of the campers that were there needed help with showers and eating. I saw people serve the special needs community with dignity and respect. I wasone proud youth pastor as I witnessed my students serving without complaining. They realized what needed to be done and just did it. The only way to explain my emotion was that my soul was smiling. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be God and how proud He must be when we are His hands and feet.
My love for the special needs community continues to grow. I have met many of them that have such a great love for Jesus.
They have a love that I am jealous of because it does not get complicated by things that do not matter.
They know their weaknesses but they know that He is strong. I’ve been meditating on this verse a lot lately, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Cor.
12:9) The truth is that we all have our weaknesses but what matters most is how we view our weaknesses.
Do you boast in your weaknesses?
How are your hands and feet? Are they the hands and feet of Jesus? Maybe you see too many of your weaknesses as obstacles to being the hands and feet of Jesus. If that is the case then read 2 Corinthians 12 and see that God wants to use our weaknesses for His glory. So boast in your weakness and use your weaknesses to point people to Jesus.
It was a privilege to serve at Camp Barnabas. One that we hope to be able do again next year. If you or your church is interested in serving with them then I encourage you to visit their website, www.campbarnabas.org. If you know a special needs family, then tell them about Barnabas.
They do things the right way and keep Jesus as the foundation.
Editor’s note: Michael Smith is the youth pastor of First Baptist Church, Pea Ridge. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Church, Pages 2 on 08/10/2012