Live Love

Jacob and I just returned from a life changing week in the Dominican Republic. We were able to link up with 150 youth and volunteers from The Rock at McLean Bible Church just outside of DC and spend 7 amazing days sharing the Gospel on village streets, partnering with local area churches, washing little feet and putting new shoes on those same feet, singing Spanish songs about Jesus, and spending the week with the sweetest kids in an orphanage in La Romana. We were all deeply impacted by the precious people of that country, and our eyes were opened to the great physical and spiritual need there that we as the Church are responsible to meet. 

I will not soon forget the faces and stories I witnessed, and this blog will serve as a reminder that I cannot merely stand by and close my eyes to what I have seen, nor can I use a week long mission trip to appease my conscience and tell me the lie that I did my part when there are still so many laying their heads on a cardboard bed at night hungry, resorting to violence and trafficking due to extreme poverty (not just physical poverty), and inevitably dying without heart-knowledge of the God who unceasingly loves them. I wish to, in the coming blogs, share a few accounts of our trip in hopes of stirring your heart for the least of these and reminding myself this new found knowledge is just the beginning. Now comes the test: what will I do to help? Now having seen what I saw, how will I act upon that knowledge? The challenge is to daily step outside of our comfortable little lives to recognize the needs all around us and act accordingly. After all, James was dead on when he said, "Faith without works is dead," as well as Paul: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Let's put our faith in action and live love.