Serve One Another Humbly In Love

Being in India where our mission is to connect with, pray over, and encourage people who don’t understand us is not really in my comfort zone. I am much more comfortable behind the scenes being tucked back in the Sacristy with the Altar Team, or in the kitchen. Doing a task is my preference. I like to be busy. I have been surprised to find that the thing that has made me the most uncomfortable is having others do tasks for and take care of me.

From the moment we landed it began. There were cars to drive us to our destination and load and unload our luggage and people who traveled two days on the train to retrieve our extra bags and get them to our destination. Bishop Shalem, his wife Swarupa, and daughters Hepsi, Beulah, and Kezziah worked tirelessly. Swarupa cooked breakfast and dinner for us each day and her daughters served it to us, watching and offering and serving more if our plates got low on something. There was always a daughter with us, like a guardian angel. The congregations we visited fed us lunch and treated us like royalty and the daughters brought silverware for us to use, in case we weren’t ready to eat like they do with their fingers. We were not allowed to carry anything other than our personal bag. There was always someone there to take extras from us. They, along with others from Moriah School drove us and waited for us and opened car doors for us. As we stood in the mud for a ground breaking ceremony, Kezziah saw me shift in the mud and she pulled out a napkin and asked if I wanted to wipe off my shoes.

I could go on. I thought we had come here to somehow bless these people but instead we have been the ones who have been blessed by their humble service to us. I have learned from them much about serving.

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Galatians 5:13