Week of September 11, 2000
Debbie B.

"Render service with enthusiasm,
as to the Lord and not to men and women."
Ephesians 6:7

I have picked this scripture because it reflects exactly what I experienced when I had the privilege this summer to accompany ten wonderful young people on the Synod1's first Youth Ministry Domestic Service Trip. Kirsten, Anneliese, Matthew, Dan, Michelle, Matt, Adam, Alex, Sara, and Steven, all with smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts, willingly rendered service to the Lord. In doing that service they witnessed their faith to all of the adults that they worked with, side by side. A sense of their enthusiasm for this service and their love of God is reflected in their journal entries which they made at morning devotions. For my devotion I would like to share a few of these entries with you.

Expectations:
"I expect a lot of hard work and fun.", " . . .to help others and not do things for myself", ". . . .helping people in this community. . .I also hope to grow spiritually."
 
Blessings:
"I think the work I am doing is a blessing to myself because it gives me the chance to do something for someone else with God's help.", "The work I am doing has been a blessing for me because I have been given the chance to forget about my needs and concentrate on the needs of others.", " . . .Just knowing that I will improve someone's life makes me happy."
 
The Work:
"We all worked together to get everything done. . . .", "It was hard, but satisfying work.", "It was fun and worthwhile doing, . . ."
 
Handling the Exhaustion:
"prayer and devotion time has helped me to deal with this exhaustion.", ". . . doing fun stuff on our off time helps us deal with exhaustion.", "when we are tired, we try to remember to be patient and kind."
 
Prayer:
". . . safety for our group.", ". . . understanding those around us, and that we may work well, and with our hearts, and be careful and patient.", "We should give thanks to God for giving us this great opportunity to help others."
 
Thankfulness:
"I am thankful to God for giving us the opportunity to work together and help our fellow man!", "I am thankful for the many new people that I have met.", "I am thankful to God that we were all able to work well together. . . ", ". . . I am most thankful just for the opportunity to have come here and do all we did for others."

Thank you Lord for the young people of Your church who enthusiastically work to serve you, and inspire all of us to serve the Lord with gladness. Amen

Contributed by Debra B.
Published Monday September 11, 2000
Week 42 of Liturgical Year B