The heart to serve.

God is developing in me a heart to serve. I have always had the heart to serve "young people," and of course I love to serve, but I have never really had the absolute yearning to serve people in need. I had a blast packing and serving food for the Harlem community on choir tour (Snack Crew '11!). Serving is SO FUN, it makes you feel great, and it truly reveals the image of Christ.

Last week, as I was driving my nephew downtown for SPARC rehearsal, I saw two drivers give homeless people money. Now, I typically never see people give money. I had the urge to give a man my bag of cheese-itz, but for lame reasons like time and the fact that I had my nephews in the car, I did not. (although we did have a convo about giving homeless people food). The whole fact is that I am seeing more and more God placing that desire in my heart.

I randomly watched an episode of Kate Plus 8 (yeah, I know, you can laugh), and they were serving the Food Bank. That place is awesome, by the way. They feed thousands of hungry people all by donations and volunteering. It was awesome to see not only Kate serving, but teaching her 8 little ones what it means to serve and how blessed they truly are. Again, God was tugging at my heart.

This seems silly, but on my way home today, while driving into the neighborhood, I was stopped by a road worker. The right lane was closed up ahead, so all drivers had to go back and enter into the other neighborhood entrance in order to get home. The man directed me, and I politely said with a smile, alright, no problem, I'll go into the other entrance. He was inspired by my positive response. He thanked me for not cussing him out, and I assured him that it's really no big deal, and I understand it was just his job. I then asked him if he needed any water since it was like 800 degrees out today, he replied "yes," so I ran to Ride-Aid to get him some waters and a Gatorade. Although this seems silly, it really felt so great to share the love of Christ with him, be a positive, joyful face, and give him some water. I just hope he remembers that for the rest of the day. While I was going into the other entrance, I saw another worker, offered him some water, he complied, and I went home, grabbed some water, and brought it back. He too was filled with gratitude. I ended both instances with "Have a blessed day," (although that seems cowardly because I should have more openly shared God's love with them... still workin' on that one.)

All this to say, I'm not trying to sound like Miss America, but it truly does feel great to bless people with the blessings God has given me. I'm pumped for CARITAS tonight!

Thank you Lord for the ability and resources to serve.