You must be the change you wish to see in the world

With the name of this blog being appropriately named "We Were Meant To Live," I intend to write out thoughts, ideas, or musings that God places in my mind in this space. Recently, the church I attend is on a capital campaign mission where the focus is on "Giving God A Chance" and today's message really grabbed a hold of me and made me think of what could happen if I really did give God a chance to show what he is capable of doing? Our church is on a 8 week pilgrimage to pray, meet in weekly home small groups, and think upon how God intends to work through us to reach our goal of our own church building someday.

Our pastor really hit it on the head when he said that this capital campaign is not just a time for all of us to think about how we can raise the funds necessary to meet our goal that we want to reach in 2 years towards a new building. It is a time to give God a chance in our lives to see the wonders he can do if we give Him the chance.

God grabbed my heart during today's message and spoke to me in such a way that it gave me a uprising in my heart that I have not experienced in quite some time. God was telling me that maybe if I give Him a chance, I can do the thing he placed on my heart. I think what he was telling me is similar to what the organization "Be The Change" is doing with Service Nation. Service Nation launched on September 11 and their mission is to to create a new era of service and civic engagement in America, an era in which all Americans will work together to try and solve our greatest and most persistent societal challenges. It is a grassroots movement to unite everyone with the goal to serve one another. On September 27, it is their vision to have a nationwide "Day of Action" to demonstrate the impact that service has – and could have - upon our country and the power of citizens to create large scale change.

On September 28, our own church, New Journey, will be taking part in "Church Has Left the Building" service day to go out in Olathe, Kansas to serve the community. We will be partnering up with Indian Creek Community Church to do this work.

I really believe that much more can be done beyond just the Service Nation Day of Action and the "Church Has Left The Building" campaigns. Taken from the Service Nation website, service to one another:

- Builds community among people, regardless of their race, gender, or socioeconomic status.
- Allows us to participate in something bigger than ourselves.
- Demonstrates that our commonalities as a people are greater than our individual differences.
- In the act of transforming our communities for the better, we end up transforming ourselves.

I challenge all of us to think how we can give God a chance in serving one another. As I pray and think upon what God is revealing to me through this capital campaign, I will be writing on this blog the thoughts that come to my mind. I will be praying for you too.

My challenge to you for this week is to think about how you can bless one person this week with a serving mindset. Just do something out of the ordinary for someone and do the unexpected. Use the comments section to explain what you did and what the result was. Let God move you.