Ok With Daunting

It dawned on me today that the entire purpose of me starting this blog was to tell about all the amazing things that have taken place. Fail!

I have put an unbelievable amount of miles on my car these last couple weeks, great things have happened, and I have shared none of it.

I have been apart of a presentation put on by a group that traveled to Nicaragua this summer which was great. I have been apart of church visits that could develop into great church partners with Rainbow Network. I have toured the Personal Energy Transportation warehouse and eaten dinner with Mel and Barbara West, the founders of PET and many other missions organizations, which is always a delight.

All of these were great, but there were two recent things that really stick out to me.

First, I helped man the Rainbow Network booth at the Festival of Sharing. FOS was started by Mel and Barbara (of course!) decades ago. Missions groups from all over Missouri come together at the MO State Fairgrounds with two main purposes- to raise awareness and to better equip the organizations to serve. It has been turned into a youth weekend and at any given point throughout the day you will see several youth groups packaging up tons (literally tons) of rice and beans to send to food pantries through the state. There are livestock outside and quilts inside that are auctioned off to support the missions organizations financially. Several other states have mimicked this event in their own state. The amazing thing about this weekend is that while it is administered by the United Methodist Church, it welcomes all denominations. Over 30 different denominations came together with one purpose- to fight hunger. The small details of each denominations' beliefs do not matter when you are dealing with hungry stomachs. I once heard that hungry stomachs have no ears and I could not agree more.

The second big event was having the honor to speak at my home church for Laity Sunday. While I have done over 30 presentations for Rainbow Network, I have never done anything quite like this. Speaking about an organization- especially one you are passionate about- is easy. Talking about yourself- especially for me- not so much. I was asked to speak about what makes me so passionate about missions. While I made a few different points, the one that means the most is that this is what I have been called to. There is nothing more satisfying than serving the Lord through the poor. Knowing that my life is dedicated to a purpose and not a paycheck is extremely fulfilling. Each decision that I make at work and each conversation that I have with anyone no matter where I am could potentially lead to another mouth being fed, another sturdy home being built, another diploma being earned, another illness being treated, another job being developed. The list goes on and on. The more I think about it, the more daunting it seems. I could not ask for anything better.