In the last few years, I've written about God's love a lot. I like to talk about it, even get choked up about it every once in a while. But actually to put into practice? Not so often. For as long as I can remember, I've preferred to think, write, or talk about things, rather than DO them. But the more I study the Bible and reflect on the world, the more I'm faced with a truth that clashes with my occasional laziness, as well as my proclivity for wanting to stay in the safe (though often outlandish) confines of my mind: Love is much less about warm feelings and sentimentality than we think it is. It has to be backed up by actions, or it means essentially nothing.
This was a hard pill for me to swallow at first, partly because I had an overly-narrow conception of what it might mean for me to love through my actions. I was thinking back on all the community service and volunteer activities I had heard of my friends doing, and was failing to see how I could make a contribution in any of them. Maybe, I thought, I wasn't cut out for service work. Maybe I should stick to what I was comfortable with and knew I enjoyed doing. God would understand if I wasn't really suited for going out and doing things. Something the Apostle Paul wrote helped me to resist the urge to fall into this way of thinking: “There are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinth. 12:5-7)
I may not be of much help building a house or assisting doctors in a village in a foreign country (nor, for that matter, plenty of other things that require physical dexterity or coordination). I'll probably never solve world hunger or cure cancer. But I could at least try to transform whatever skills or interests I have, no matter how academic or impractical they seem to me, into something concrete that could make a positive impact on someone's life. To love, not just with hollow words, but in deed and in truth. Over the last few years, I've been attempting to figure out what that would look like in practice. This June, I plan to be involved in something that I hope will be one big step in the right direction.
About six months ago, I learned that the church organization I belong to, the NJ synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has been running mission trips to Bosnia for the last 15 years. This year, volunteers will be there from June 20th to July 1st. Most of those days will be spent running programs for children at schools and orphanages throughout the country. Volunteers will often be broken into four groups to lead activities involving music, acting, sports, and a community project. While having fun and meeting a lot of new people, the goal is for children to learn the value of diversity and to build skills in teamwork and conflict resolution.
The more I heard about it, the more the idea of participating in this trip “clicked” in my mind. For the last six years, travel has been a passion of mine. Most of that travel has been to the Middle East, so I've gotten used to some of my family and friends questioning my sanity in going to locales that they consider dangerous or unstable. I've received a very similar reaction to my plans for this summer, in spite of the fact that the wars in that region ended in the 90s. While Bosnia is far from being a war zone, it continues to bear the physical and emotional scars from those years. The country has more than its fair share of political and economic challenges ahead of it, and there is much healing that needs to be done, not least among its youth.
It's clear from testimony from both volunteers and students that the trips have done a lot of good over the years. And because of my interests in travel, music, and acting, I feel I can make a real contribution to this mission work. Unfortunately, airfare to Bosnia and expenses while in the country aren't cheap. I'm hoping to be able to raise $2,400 by the end of May so that I can attend.
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| A view of Sarajevo |
That's where you come in. If you've made it this far in reading this blog post, please consider whether you are feeling called to help me to reach my goal. Every dollar counts. If you're not in a position to contribute monetarily, then any prayers or moral support in the next several months would be vastly appreciated. If you want to know more about the Bosnia mission or have any questions, please go to www.servanttrips.org for a lot more information. Please, help me to share a tiny bit of the love that has been shown to me, and to be an agent of peace in a country that is in sore need of it.
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