Drawing Others to Him through Kindness & Joy

This morning’s Scripture: Acts 20:35 (NIV)

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Our morning devotional was about acts of kindness; to those we know, those we don’t know, those God puts in our path, those that frustrate us. Every opportunity we have to exercise the fruit of the Spirit and show acts of kindness is an opportunity to make a significant impact on someone’s life. One of the boys reminded the team of last’s year’s impact trip and how showing love and kindness to Mrs. Francis was so powerful not just to her but to the boys as well.

Our devotional this afternoon was about joy. What does joy mean to you? How does serving others bring joy to you? What can you do as a class to serve someone and bless them by bringing the hope of Jesus to them and praying they will experience a deeper joy that lasts way beyond any type of giving from a single outreach. 

Tejas turned on the lights of all of the trees we wrapped with different colored Christmas lights these past two days and it was hard to believe they had done all of that work.  We walked to the area after dinner and we were really all blown away by how many trees they had done.  “We did all of these?”   Seriously it is beautiful! 

We also had a very special time of prayer around another ‘light tree’ (picture below) that one of our students helped string while the rest of the team enjoyed crate stacking, ax throwing, bazooka ball, 9 square and more.  Mr. Steve, one of the lighting gurus, was putting this ‘light’ tree up with Thomas, one of the staffers.  They needed just one guy and our Trevor volunteered knowing he would miss the two hour fun time.  Back to the prayer.  The assignment was: Let’s think about all the things we’ve been told about the Christmas events that will happen here, about all the ways a family can be blessed when they come here and ask God to bless and transform lives. The first night we talked about being aware of what we were doing, how and why we were doing it and how it can turn into prayer agendas. 

I feel like the students embraced the prayer agenda and prayed some of the most amazing prayers. Everyone prayed.  Just a few I remember:

1. God would heal families. 
2. People would draw closer to God
3. People would turn to God
4. Families would grow close together 
5. Thanking God for allowing us to come and be a blessing and help Tejas get ready 
6. Thanking God for drawing their class closer together. 
7. Thank you God for letting us do all of the work that we could and helping the workers here to get ready for their Christmas season.
8. God would mend relationships. 

It’s been a great trip. We have one more day to serve. Tomorrow is a different project. We’ll help set up for a group of 400 coming tomorrow night.

Mr. Shackleford and Mrs. Keeley have been such a blessing. A huge thank you to their spouses for supporting them to be on trips like this. They love and pour into your students.

FYI: These students are now experts in tree wrapping.  Be ready to be critiqued if you wrap your trees. Ha! But, for real! 

Thank you for bringing your student to Summit!  We consider it an honor to partner with you! 

Mrs. G

P.S. We will head home after lunch and final debrief.  I’ll be in contact with the school and the

students will text you as well I’m sure. The goal will be to be at Summit between 3:00 -3:30pm.

The Heart of Service

We arrived this morning, unloaded and got right to work.  Usually when our 8th graders arrive there are already lots of trees, poles and walkways wrapped with lights.  This time there had not been any Christmas lights hung yet.  We got the tutorial on wrapping, spacing and connecting strands.  If you don’t get all three of those correct you have to undo and start over. 

We worked until lunch and then again in the afternoon.  We felt good about our work but didn’t think we got very far.  Tejas is wonderful about getting electricity to all of our work so we could see how far we had gotten and how it will look when the guests begin to arrive for the Christmas festivities.  It is beautiful and we did much more than we thought we had.  The kids were so amazed. They were proud of the work they had done and realized the importance of doing the job with excellence.  The lights on the trees reflect in the little pond area and it is truly beautiful.  

After dinner we had our first devotional (Scripture: Matthew 25:34-40 NIV)  This passage reminds us that when we serve others, we are serving Jesus himself. The heart of service is not just about doing good deeds; it’s about recognizing the presence of Christ in those we serve.  How we serve others reflects the love we have for Jesus.  

We debrief the day and everyone shares about something fun and/or meaningful.  The after lunch volleyball game was funny and fun. The van ride here for the girls – this class is a constant musical and I love it.  Enjoyed wrapping the trees and feeling good about the work.  Free time had some fishing in it and a small group of the boys enjoyed their catches. Seeing the trees in the dark.   

We discussed how we can become more aware of what and why we’re serving.  When we become more aware, our prayer life can grow.  Thinking of everything we know right now about the projects and the Christmas outreach the students were challenged with thinking about what all they could pray for.  It took a while but they soon caught on. 

1. People would feel the stress leave and feel God’s peace when they get out of their cars and begin to walk on to the property
2. Families would have wonderful times and conversations with each other
3. Relationships would mend  
4. People would reconcile their hearts to God

We broke into two groups; guys and girls and spent time in prayer.  Sweet prayers prayed by the girls (I wasn’t with the guys but I know it was good)  We closed the night with more sand volleyball.  

Parents, you have great kids and they have been amazing today.  I had three Tejas staffers tell me, “It’s no little thing what you do to help us.”  “We look forward to Summit coming, your kids always work hard and do a great job.”  “I look at the schedule for the month and see names of groups and there isn’t a connection other than I’m so glad for the opportunity for them to be here and experience all God has for them. But when I see Summit’s name it’s always different.  There’s a relationship behind that name. 

Tomorrow we continue with the trees and other projects.  

Praise:  Safe trip here.  Great weather. Successful first day of projects

Pray:  Continued safety.  Build community.  Continue to serve strong even when it begins to feel so repetitive. Prayerful attitudes remembering why we are doing this.  

Pray for the families that will be coming this holiday season. Pray they experience God the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit in a fresh and new way.  

Pray that our student’s prayer lives will grow.

Thank you for allowing us to partner with you in the spiritual growth of your child. Seeing them serve with amazing attitudes and then hearing them share is such an amazing blessing.