Guest Post: What is God doing and how can we join him?

 

Like most parents I get all kinds of emotional when I think about my kids and their future, and the enormous responsibility I have to guide and nurture their little souls.  I’m talking the ‘I’m on holy ground here so I need to be uber-intentional’ type of responsibility.  And when it comes to the values my husband and I want to knead into our kids’ still-malleable hearts, a love for serving others is at the top of a long list.  We want them to ask themselves the questions: What is God doing and how can I join him?

 

So when my family of five was invited to join some others from our church on a 3 day summer Family Mission Trip with YouthWorks we were all in – green when it comes to mission trips, but enthusiastic.

 

When the weekend came we loaded our three kids, (ages 8, 6 and 3) into the car, along with sleeping bags and pillows, a few changes of clothes and very few expectations.  As we drove the three and a half hour drive to Superior, Wisconsin, we guessed about what the weekend would bring, and about what we could give.  We talked about God’s boundless love and how we could give it away to whomever we met.  We talked about responsibility and attitude and keeping an open mind to whatever we would be asked to do.  Quite honestly, we looked at the trip as an experiment, an adventure worth leaning into (did I mention we were bringing a 3-year old?), another opportunity to invite God into our crazy life and see how he could use us to love on complete strangers.  And wouldn’t you know it? In return we got love right back.

 

 

 

 

The weekend was unquestionably life-giving.  In many ways it felt to us like camp with a purpose. We slept on the cement floor of a church basement and drove to the YMCA each day to shower.  We stayed up late at night getting to know a little better the hearts of the other families from our church: where they go on vacations, how they manage screen time, how they like their Culvers Concrete Mixer.  Important stuff.  We met families from other churches on the same trip.  We shared meals, sang songs and processed together what we were doing and why we were doing it.  Everything about the weekend felt both unforced and, at the same time, intentional.

 

One of the most valuable parts of the whole trip for my husband and I was the way in which YouthWorks not only encouraged us, but also gave us tools, to process our experiences – before, during and after the trip.  We spent time as a family talking about how Jesus insists that serving people in need is the same thing as serving him.  We asked each other where we noticed God each day, which strangers’ face made us smile the most.  We talked about how service is not always just doing for others, but more importantly, it’s about stepping into others’ lives and being with them.

 

The YouthWorks staff had pre-arranged a myriad of job sites, everything from playing with kids to painting houses.  Because our kids are young, we purposefully chose relatively undemanding work. We played games at the Boys and Girls Club with teenagers and sang songs at a nursing home with 90-year olds.  We bundled up on a cold, rain-soaked day to hand-scrape decks at the homes of adults with disabilities.  And all along, our kids (and the others) brought joy.  They brought joy to the elderly whose faces said it all when the kids colored them pictures to hang in their rooms.  They brought joy to the youth at the Boys and Girls Club who were eager for playmates.  And our kids showed us their true hearts when we offered to take them out of the cold and wet and they insisted we scrape until the scraping was done.

 

 

 

 

The impact we had on the community of Superior, Wisconsin was not long lasting, nor monumental.  Even the staining of the decks was left for the next YouthWorks group to finish… but what was long lasting for us was what God was able to knead a little deeper into each of our hearts.  Presence.  Service.  Joy.  Love.

 

So this summer we will go on a YouthWorks Family Mission trip again – with hearts full of anticipation and gratitude.  What is God doing and how can we join him?

 

 

Kari Campbell and her family attend The Upper Room, a church that worships in St. Louis Park, MN. She and her family took a family trip last year to Superior, WI and are hoping to go on another family trip this year.