Monday, February 8, 2010

Happy Monday!

The building was without heat today. The new boiler was broken. The children and teachers in the classrooms were quite cold as a result. The library, one computer lab and the cafeteria were the only rooms which seemed to have heat. The remainder of the building was b-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-!! I was leaving the building as soon as possible after school when my principal told me the heat had just turned on. My hope is that we will begin the day with heat. Say your prayers for our school, please.

1 Corinthians 13:3 “No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I am bankrupt without love.”

I must admit I was quite nervous, so when I am nervous I tend to really listen in hopes to find something to make a connection. The motto of Kairos is “Listen, Listen, Love, Love."

What I discovered about the team members is their amazing consumption with this term called “love.” As I sat at lunch with mostly men they were asking this question, “Why can’t church be like this?” They were asking why their church families outside the Kairos ministry could not experience the love they felt for each other, for the residents of the prison and for God.

This Kairos ministry seems to be of a singular purpose. The purpose of the Kairos Prison Ministry is to love the Lord with all their heart, mind soul and strength and their neighbor as their selves.” I witnessed this love as we sang songs of worship and praise, as we met with prayer partners for discussion and prayer, as we listened to how God has worked in the lives of some of the team members through dark adversity and their total reliance on God to bring to light a resolution to their problem. I joined as the hands of prayer were laid on one team member who was going through particularly difficult times. I listened in particular to one of the team who shared that when he first began this ministry several years ago he thought these residents in the prison were not worthy of his love. As God began to reveal His plan to this one team member, he realized that these 42 men were his neighbors just as were the friends from his church, the ones who lived next door, his family and the ones in the room who were learning to love this man, who was once a stranger. He listened to what God had to say and then acted in obedience to the call of God. He experienced a holy moment.

The Kairos Prison Ministry has a singular purpose to love others as God has loved them. They love those who are unlovely, who are outcast, who are poor in spirit and alone. They love them by taking the Word of God inside and being willing to be vulnerable to the needs and feelings of these forgotten people. I ask you to pray for the residents that God will prepare their hearts to receive God’s Word and His redeeming love.

Just throwing this out there…”Can we learn to love with a singular purpose?” Can we learn to love those who are unlovely, unlovable, outcast and alone? Can we help those we know or don’t know face the darkness of adversity and help them see the brilliant light of the love of God in that darkness? These are tough questions, but questions we are all called to answer? Will our answer be “I can’t do it,” or “Here I am - send me“?

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

No comments: