Right now, our high school students from the Pelham Road Campus are wrapping up their last full day of the Greenville Mission Trip. We talk all the time about the importance of Engaging the World - not just other countries, but our world immediately around us, in Greenville, SC. So, each year over spring break, our students are given the opportunity to get away while staying right here in town in order to focus on and serve their own community.
The theme for this week has been Sent and each morning during their solitude time and again in the evenings for the main session (taught by Ryan Donell) and small group time, the students were given someone in the Bible to study who had been sent by God. Sunday we looked at Isaiah (Isaiah 6), Monday we looked at Abram (Genesis 12 and 15), Tuesday we looked at Jonah (all four chapters of the book), and today they looked at the disciples in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John).
It's amazing to look through scripture and see how some people who were called by God responded with a quick and resounding YES, while others ran in the opposite direction. Abram was so enveloped by the Lord's majesty that he volunteered to be sent before having clear direction for what God was asking him to do!
I said, "Here I am! Send me." (Is 6:8)
While on the other hand, instead of willingly being sent, Jonah ran in the other direction and boarded a boat to try and run away from God (as if anyone could actually run away from God).
But each time, in each instance, God's power and glory were revealed. And ultimately, He continued to point his people towards the Messiah.
Two thousand years ago Jesus was sent from heaven into a world that is broken and desperately in need of a savior. He gave up paradise, perfection, and comfort beyond anything we understand to live with sinful, dreadful, hurtful, and hurting people for 33 years. Not only that, but the people who celebrated his entry into Jerusalem were the same ones who killed him just a few short days later. Thankfully, we'll have the opportunity to celebrate his resurrection from death this coming weekend.
When God sent Jesus into this world, he did not hesitate... even though he knew what would be coming. We talked with our students in our small group Monday night about the blessings and discomfort and sacrifices that come with being sent by God. But as we talked about it and looked at several cases in scripture, there is never any regret when we answer His call to serve with a strong and resounding YES.
-Sabrina Lewis, church staff
