Just Do SOMETHING!

Yesterday, I was on a Website that asked visitors to list the things that are on their Christmas wishlist this year. I was just passing time as I clicked the link to check out the responses, pretty sure of what I would see: video games, clothes, electronics, etc. I was never so glad to be wrong!

One lady’s Christmas wish was to be free of cancer for herself and her daughter-in-law. I immediately thought about this woman’s son…the one whose mother and wife are both battling a life-threatening disease at the same time. How difficult this time must be for him?! Another post was a woman who wished to be able to provide Christmas dinner—with dessert—for her family. The addition of “with dessert” stopped me dead in my tracks. Such a small thing for many of us, but it was everything to this woman. Another wished for a job, another wished for a vehicle, another wished for relief from financial burden, another wished for the restoration of her estranged family. The list went on and on.

The feelings rising up in me were feelings I had just had the week before when a 15-year old girl gave her life to Christ and she just began to cry uncontrollably. There was a tangible content in her cries, something I could almost reach out and touch. I could feel the pain that she was finally releasing to the Lord. I could feel the heartbreak that she has experienced, already, in her young life. I began to think about the pressures and fears that come along with being a teenager. I felt her cries as a representation of the pain that is so common in so many of our teenagers today. Unspoken, paralyzing pain. Some have been sexually assaulted; some are cutting themselves because the cutting helps them to feel something in a place they have closed off to everything else; some are relentlessly bullied because of some physical characteristic, economic standing, or a personality trait that the other kids just don’t understand; some are afraid because their parents are fighting and maybe financially overwhelmed; some are strung out on drugs because they’re hoping to numb the pain of the reality of their lives. These kids are fighting battles every day. I cried with that young girl because I could feel what she felt in my own soul and it hurt so bad.

Everywhere I look, I just keep seeing people who are in such pain…people who just need a little relief so they can be strong enough to withstand the pressures of life that are pressing against them on every side. There are so many who are struggling and for whom the smallest of blessings could be a real life-changer. So many people just need the smallest bit of understanding and encouragement from people who aren’t too busy judging their situations, acting as martyrs, or spreading gossip about their circumstances. There is so much we can do as individuals. We can change lives. And all it takes is to reach out your hand.

I have a ministry God has placed on my heart that I’m planning to bring to life in my community starting in January 2011. Right now, I’m praying for the right people to be brought to my attention to help me form this group. I’m praying for people with all kinds of different strengths and abilities. I need leaders who are humble and not full of self-promotion or self-interests. I need people who are willing to stand in the gap and offer intercessory prayer for this team. I need people with servant hearts who are willing to physically go out and do some of the service projects with me. I need people who are young, old, fat, thin, short, tall…I need parents, teens, and the elderly. I need people who have professional careers as well as blue collar workers and stay-at-home moms. I need willing, loving, selfless people who want to see real change take place and who will partner with me as we try to put the “unity” back into our community.

Right now, I’m doing a lot of praying and preparing and administrative-type stuff so, when January comes, we can hit the ground running. I want to go into people’s homes and touch them where they are. I don’t want to represent a particular church or school or organization…I just want to represent the love of Jesus Christ by being His hands and feet on this earth. I guess I’m putting this out there now so you’ll have time to think about what is about to happen and, perhaps, you may decide to join me in this effort. And, if you live in a different community, maybe you can start your own group and make it happen where you live too.

I’m sick and tired of watching my community be made fun of every time there’s a news story out of our town. I’m tired of watching children get hurt. I’m tired of watching people sit apathetically by and ignore the needs that are all around them. I’m tired of neighbors “minding their own business” while the person on the other side of the fence is dying inside.

If there’s a single-mom whose house work has gotten out of control because she’s trying to work and raise her kids and do everything all by herself…now DCFS comes in and says clean it up or lose your kids…let’s go clean her house! Don’t judge her or the mess. Just help her! If there’s an elderly couple who can’t get out of their homes because the snow is piled up…get your butt out there and shovel a path! If there’s a sick child who is weak from chemo and feeling embarrassed because she doesn’t have any hair…let’s go give her a make-over and paint her nails and tell her how beautiful she is! If there’s a neighbor who lost a loved one, let’s help them out and make them dinner for a couple of weeks so they can deal with their loss instead of worrying about feeding their families. Maybe, just maybe, if we get off our duffs and try to do these simple, non-monetary things to help people when they’re in the hour of their greatest need, we can stop someone from becoming so overwhelmed that they beat their child. Maybe we can intervene before a situation gets so bad a marriage ends or a elderly person “accidentally” takes one too many pain killers.

I also hope to clean up the neighborhood—literally. We can pick up trash and maybe plant some flowers in the springtime. We can acknowledge the sacrifices of our police force and volunteer firemen and maybe provide them with a nice hot meal or cards of appreciation.

There is no end to the things we can do! You and me. We can rebuild our community one person at a time…one heart at a time…one situation at a time. You could be the one person that makes all the difference in the world to someone else. You can save a life with nothing more than a little investment of your time and your heart.

My plan is to allow the holidays to get over with, and then have an informational meeting in the beginning of January. And, if we’re able to, I’d like to even get our first service project started and completed before the end of the first month of the year.

Once it is set, I will share the meeting time and place on my blog and on my Facebook page, and I will place flyers on every door in town that I can get to. I hope you’ll consider coming together with me to make our community a better place to live and raise our kids.