Charleston WV, Mission Trip Day 3

Our devotion this morning focused on our value in Christ.

We had some questions to consider. One of them was What do you think of this mission trip so far?

I couldn't answer that yet. I'm still processing. There's a lot of things that I'm seeing about us as a church and God.

One thing I didn't expect on this trip is the clear division between what we say we want to do here and what we actually do. They want us to focus on being Christ's light and rightly so, but how that plays out gets kinda lost.

I'm hoping to see a difference in these last couple days as we talk to our group about this.

Some thoughts from this mornings devotions:

We need to acknowledge our brokenness. Accept it. Don't hide it. Don't rationalize it. Don't dwell on it. Yet don't forget it.
It is reality and God takes us right here in this broken state and wants us to be His. Take who we are face it and let God in to move and shine.
To accept our brokenness means we can accept others as broken.
Accept that God meets them right where they are too. He loves them and calls us to love them.
Jesus takes the brokenness and calls out to all of us "You are my beloved. Come to me."
Stop seeing each other and ourselves as unacceptable, unloved, undesirable, unclean etc...
Instead you are clean, desirable, accepted...yes even as you are broken.
Just as I have called you accepted, beloved, desirable so too are others around you.
Treat each other as such. Be loved, Love God, love others, do good. 

Work Site:
Finished our paint job for covenant house. The manager got us all frosties from Wendy's

Then we went and  hung out with the people at golden living nursing home.

I Met a very lovely woman who talked to me about her life. She has a lot of wisdom! I enjoyed my time with her.
Megan even came out of her shell a bit and painted a lady's nails. I was so proud of her!
High point was we had an opportunity to have a little more of a private shower experience.

Dinner:

After work sites and free time my group were on duty for dinner prep.

We talked to the rest of our church group to see how their day went.
Mikes eye is hurting.
Raychel feels a little sick.

Everyone was tired but had a good day.

Worship:

All of us youth leaders were part of a fashion show tonight at club.
We all wore youth enterprise t shirts. Check them out online. They're really cool t-shirts. I have several favs.

Heard a testimony from a youth works staff.
Talking about God's pursuit of us.
Allowing ourselves to be found. Seeing ourselves as valued and others as valued.
Question to think about fot the night is do you find it harder to ask Jesus to help you?
Or is it harder to believe others have value?

Many of our kids said it was harder to ask Jesus for help. 

Church Group Time:

Boys shared their excitement of working with the kids and their challenges.
Each of the kids had positive things to share about stretching themselves.
They have been open and encouraging to each other. It's really cool to see.
We ended in prayer with each one of then participating.
I really see God working a God work in them.
Lord, Jesus let us bear fruit that's pleasing to You. Amen
Goodnight