The Fellowship of Believers, Part 3

So this past weekend we had a reunion with our friends the Chaneys, and all things said it was wonderful. The Lord was good and protected our health (just say no to Chariganitis!). His grace and peace was felt as our kids played so well together. You'll have to look at Candace's post to hear more about that, but I was struck by something else. The act of service with other believers. You see, on Saturday afternoon, we spent time together cleaning up sticks from my parents yard. They had an atrocious ice storm last week, lost power for 6 days, and were left with wreckage equaled only by tornadoes. Praise the Lord their house and health were not effected, but the damage to the yard was crazy. See above. That's my dad standing in their front yard.

The kids helped pick up tons of sticks and we were all basically happy for close to 3 1/2 hours! Even the little ones. I guess that's what started my thinking. I mean really, Samuel and Zeke (both almost 2 yrs old) stayed outside with everyone and played the whole time! And Benjamin and Anna Grace (not known for their 4-year old ability to follow through) stayed outside and worked almost the whole time, excluding a short snack break. :) Why is it that I have to fight to get them to clean up the blocks, and yet they helped in the yard for close to three hours? What is that dynamic that motivated all of us to serve and have loads of fun!?


"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does," Ephesians 6:7-8
Jesus himself says, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with alll your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than this." Mark 12: 30-31

Doesn't it look like fun? I don't know the dynamics of this, but I do know a couple of things.
I know from my own experience and from the testimony of the bible, that serving others, and putting them before ourselves is very important to the heart of the Father. I know also that he has designed us to live together in love, to be bound to each other as we are bound to him. I also know that doing something together binds our hearts. There's got to be something to it- if it wasn't an important aspect of a believing community of people, then the Lord wouldn't have mentioned it. And I can tell you, this weekend was possibly one of the best we have had. We loved on each other, we loved on my parents, we played together, we ate together, we prayed together, and we served together. We will stand before the Father one day, knowing that we obeyed his heart this time, and that he has used obedience to him to bring us all closer. We know the Father better because of it, and we know each other better because of it. Thank you dear friends! Let us continue to serve Him together, to run the race to which we have been called, and to love wholeheartedly all the days of our lives.

p.s. I totally wish I had a better before and after pic to show you, but the difference was truly amazing!