Right now is the big push when all of the Short Term Mission teams come down to L.A. to volunteer at the Dream Center.
Hundreds of people come for what we call "Team Season." It is a crazy, packed, awesome few months. Because there have been so many new additions to the Dream Center, such as our family floor, a lot of the rooms where these teams would stay have been taken over for something else so there are teams sleeping in the gym!
These people are dedicated, excited and come here to serve because God has called them to be here.
If you've never been here and want to experience what it is like for a week of two, I would really recommend coming down. You can see what all the ministries are like, meet tons of awesome people, see God move and have your life changed while you are helping to change others.
We love STM's, so definitely come down if you get a chance this summer!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Burns
Twice a week, usually on weekends, I work over at Starbucks so that I can pay for school while I am volunteering at the Dream Center. Today I opened at 5 AM--in the middle of our morning rush I was getting someone their coffee when, somehow, the 20 oz cup of freshly brewed 200* coffee spilt all over my exposed arm and where my sleeve was covering. It immediately started stinging and my eyes started tearing up. I began laughing, I think more from shock as my arm was burning. I could feel it begin really hurting as I didnt have time to put it under water because we had a line of 20 people waiting for their drinks.
I kept ringing people up and wiped the tears streaming down my face that came nonchalantly. I wasn't crying but my eyes just wouldn't stop watering. One of my co-workers started giving me a bad time and telling me to "deal with it" and I joked back and forth with him like it wasn't a big deal. BUT IT HURT. So, after the line was gone, I pulled my sleeve up and realize my arm was still a deep pink and had started swelling. The coworker who has made fun of me went into the back and grabbed this burn medicine for me to put on my arm but instead of being grateful and taking it to get rid of the pain, I become proud and said "No, I don't need that." I didn't want to give in because he had made fun of me and made me feel foolish. After about 10 minutes I realized how stupid that was. Why would I sit there in pain if there was something that could take the pain away?
I was walking home with this big yellow sponge like thing on my arm and gauze wrapped around it and I started thinking about how we deal with so many problems like that. We are hurting. We are dealing with something painful. We are in, someway, over our head and don't know how to make it stop. But we are too proud, too embarrassed, feel too foolish to ask for help.
We have the grace of a God that loves us so much that He had his son die for us.
I know we talk about that a lot, but really think about that.
Think about your child or someone's child you love so much--and think about having them be crucified, the most painful and humiliating death, to save a bunch of people who sometimes don't even care or would rather just get by without the help.
Imagine that.
Imagine GIVING UP your child.
Now-- why do we waste so much time being unhappy, being in pain, hurting...when God is there to be the relief? Why do we wait to seek out what will make us better?
Just a few thoughts
My arm feels a lot better.
I know once I take the little pad off, it will probably still hurt, but the medicine helped almost immediately to eliminate the pain. God does not always miraculously make us better right away--but he definitely brings a sense of hope that you can't describe. Don't be too proud to ask Him for help.
He loves you.
I kept ringing people up and wiped the tears streaming down my face that came nonchalantly. I wasn't crying but my eyes just wouldn't stop watering. One of my co-workers started giving me a bad time and telling me to "deal with it" and I joked back and forth with him like it wasn't a big deal. BUT IT HURT. So, after the line was gone, I pulled my sleeve up and realize my arm was still a deep pink and had started swelling. The coworker who has made fun of me went into the back and grabbed this burn medicine for me to put on my arm but instead of being grateful and taking it to get rid of the pain, I become proud and said "No, I don't need that." I didn't want to give in because he had made fun of me and made me feel foolish. After about 10 minutes I realized how stupid that was. Why would I sit there in pain if there was something that could take the pain away?
I was walking home with this big yellow sponge like thing on my arm and gauze wrapped around it and I started thinking about how we deal with so many problems like that. We are hurting. We are dealing with something painful. We are in, someway, over our head and don't know how to make it stop. But we are too proud, too embarrassed, feel too foolish to ask for help.
We have the grace of a God that loves us so much that He had his son die for us.
I know we talk about that a lot, but really think about that.
Think about your child or someone's child you love so much--and think about having them be crucified, the most painful and humiliating death, to save a bunch of people who sometimes don't even care or would rather just get by without the help.
Imagine that.
Imagine GIVING UP your child.
Now-- why do we waste so much time being unhappy, being in pain, hurting...when God is there to be the relief? Why do we wait to seek out what will make us better?
Just a few thoughts
My arm feels a lot better.
I know once I take the little pad off, it will probably still hurt, but the medicine helped almost immediately to eliminate the pain. God does not always miraculously make us better right away--but he definitely brings a sense of hope that you can't describe. Don't be too proud to ask Him for help.
He loves you.
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