Every Friday morning I take a couple of my kids from school to do a breakfast club at Nowra East Public School (NEPS). It's a great thing to do and I like that the kids from my school get to do something (be it very small and, really, of no cost to them as they miss out on class) for others. What impresses me, though, is who I meet there each Friday morning.
There is a lady who gets there before us each day and stays after us. She runs the breakfast club and is there every day of the week. Not only that, she stays after breakfast club is finished and helps out around the school. She doesn't get paid, she just thinks that it is mportant and she loves the kids at NEPS. There are quite a few kids there who are real behaviour problems. She takes them under her wing and makes special time for each of them every morning. I don't think that they understand it, but this woman is probably one of the only people who really shows Jesus' love to them and is committed to doing it every day that she can.
The other person who is there when I go is a guy who I suppose is in his forties or early fiftes. He can only make it to breakfast club a couple of times a week, but when he is there he speaks to the children with respect and (appropriate) affection, no matter the way that they speak to him. He also comes to the school to help out with sport so that the kids have another man around who loves and serves Jesus that they can get to know. He is planting a church in Nowra East and wants as many people as possible in the suburb to come to know Jesus as their lord and saviour as possible.
I admire these two people. They want to serve Jesus in an area that is difficult and where few Christians are willing to go. Any fool can go overseas to people who are grateful for what you bring. But not many Christians are willing to serve the poor in our own country because they don't actually love them. I am challenged by those who are willing to really serve Jesus anywhere, be it here or there. I am challenged by those who really love others, no matter how difficult they make it.
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Very difficult! Can't do it on our own!I think if we have ears to hear then God tells us what and when and how and gives us the strength to do it! The second time God spoke to me (and I recognised it as Him speaking) he said Mark 4:9, which I had to look up because I didn't know what it said and it talks about having "ears to hear". So consequently I prayed for ears to hear! A few years after that I had a dream, in the dream I was walking along a street with lots of shops (kind of like an English country town's main street, although I don't think that is relevant). I went into a shop and the shop attendant showed me a cabinet full of hearing aid type devices and took one out and gave it to me. He encouraged me to use it and charged me no money for it. He seemed really sad that so many people walked past the shop and didn't come in for the gift. It is encouraging to hear about the people from Breakfast Club who obviously listen and obey and allow God to fill them with the love needed for the tasks that he chosen for them to do.
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