PRAY FOR THIS WIMP

Pray for me this afternoon. I am feeling wimpy and self-pitying.

Every Sunday at We Will Go, the team is assigned different jobs --- serve food, lead worship, brief the volunteers,drive the van to pick up folks, etc. Today, I am assigned "street love". This means I stand at the gate or out on the street and pray, greet neighbors, and just show the love of Jesus however I can.

And today it is raining.  And cold.

But I gotta still show love.

Can I be honest? I'm really dreading this. I don't like being cold and wet. I also don't like my hair to get bedraggled. I'm feeling sorry for myself.

Just being real here.

This is when I have to do like I talked about in last night's blog post. I have to remind myself of what is true and ask God to get me over myself and focus on Him, His goodness, and His love.

I need the Holy Spirit to remind me when I'm shivering and wishing I was inside under fluffy blankets that Jesus left the temperature-is-always-perfect-and-it-never-gets-muddy Heaven and came to this messed up world for me. And for you. And for my neighbors.

He came to a world filled with dust and mud. Extreme heat and freezing cold. Hunger and pain. Rejection and abuse.

He came willingly.

He came because He was compelled by love.

And He faced it all with joy.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." --- Hebrews 12:1-2

He faced a whole lot more than a couple of hours out in the cold rain. He faced death itself but did it with us in mind and His Father in mind.

This afternoon, pray for me. Pray that when I'm tempted to complain or feel sorry for myself or not serve as fully as I should that I will keep my eyes on Jesus and remember that He is worth it...and so are the ones He died for.

I'm not being asked to go to a concentration camp or be stoned for my faith or lose my home. For goodness sake, I'm simply being asked to stand under an umbrella in the cold Mississippi rain and pray for and love that prostitute, drug addict, rejected child, and fancy church person. They all need Jesus. They all need His love. They all need His life.

And instead of feeling sorry for myself, I should be rejoicing that He is letting me in on that loving.

So pray, okay?

Thanks.