Washing Feet and Changing Hearts

I read a blog post today about my friend, and why she chose not to go on a missions trip to Vancouver. She recognized the need in her own community, and wanted to help there. I'm proud of her, for putting out there what she thought. At the bottom of the post was a link to a set of articles on short term missions and the negative aspects. I think it's safe to say I wasn't in agreement with those articles. I agree, some churches do missions trips like some college kids do spring break - hanging out on the beaches. They get support for being "Good Christians" and going on a missions trip. They raise thousands of dollars, and go to some place where they do charity work and pretend that they are so much better then these people. I agree with that, because some churches DO do missions trips like kids do spring break. But the way these articles were written I felt like all short term missions teams were grouped together. Some of the title headings of these articles were "Sorry poor people, it's not about you." and "using your poor kids to teach my rich kid a lesson." I'll let you take from these articles what you will, but I was offended at the way she handled this.

I was contemplating writing this article before what happened this afternoon. This afternoon Uncle Trevor came by. For those of you (Ok for most of you) who don't know who Uncle Trevor is, he worked at Grace Point, the Church plant we worked at while we were in inner city Winnipeg. He was down for a family gathering (He's the brother of the pastor at our church) and they borrowed some stuff so they came by to drop it off. I didn't think I was going to see him before he left, so having him drop by was a nice surprise.

I think what our team did on the missions trip wasn't like kids let loose for spring break. The trip wasn't about us, it was about the people we were going there to serve. Sure, it changed my heart and the way I look at life, but it wasn't about me. I was there to serve, and to love and I felt God calling me there to love His children. that was why I went. It was never about me. Would I say it made a lasting impact on me, yes. It has changed the way I look at life. Still, 6 months later, I am finding all these little effects that have come up from the missions trip. and yes, it did teach me to be grateful for what I have, but so does looking at pictures of people in third world countries. What I learned was bigger then just being grateful. It was more then just going there to have a spiritual experience and for me, even though I did end up getting so much out of it. There is so much more I could say on this subject, but I'll finish with this. I did get so much out of it, and I did gain appreciation for my life and I did have those spiritual moments, but I served, and I loved, and I laughed, and I played, and I learned.

John 13: 12-14

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

If you want to read the article I mentioned written by my friend, you can find it here: http://www.thestoryofmeandmyposse.blogspot.com/2012/01/reason-im-not-going-on-missions-trip.html

This also includes the link to those other posts I was talking about