When the Father opened the door for me to serve as Family Life Pastor in our church, I knew that one of the most important aspects of what He was calling me to do would be to help families engage in serving the Kingdom of God together around the world. Although I've served alone and with my bride in various cultures, when it comes to bringing my kids along, I see the opportunities in a different light. I'll never forget the day last Fall when my own family made the trek over on a vision trip to see what we might be getting into. With my love at my side, I never thought anything of walking into dangerous slum neighborhoods or of talking with those who appear to have mental illness or whose smell might elicit questions, but as we pulled into the transitioning neighborhood in Austin where Mission Possible has planted themselves. It's a "be sure and lock your doors" kind of place with interesting characters in abundance roaming the streets and finding their way into the mission center. When we walked into the cafe, my gut reaction was to hold my little ducklings close under my wing as we were approached by various unique individuals eager to make new friends and enamored with such "cute kids"( if I say so myself). As my family listened to the disjointed story of a lady who has seen the hard side of life, my heart finally settled into the reality that the presence of my family in this unlikely locale would be life-changing for us all.
The Jesus loving folks down at Mission Possible Austin have laid out a variety of missions service opportunities that our families will engage in over the next 4 days. I can hardly wait to see families, including mine, serving together side by side as we deliver groceries to shut-ins, lead Kids Bible clubs in low income apartments, and help out at Church Under the Bridge. I believe that all of us learn more by doing than by just talking about helping and as we've prepared for this trip, our youngest members have already amazed us with their child-like faith and their boldness to share the gospel. One of the most exciting parts of all of this, is that all of us will be bringing our well trained mission teams home with us to continue service in our own communities.
Our theme verse wasn't difficult to choose and it's taken from Joshua 24. Moses' successor was challenging God's people to decide whether they'd serve the gods they'd learned of in their old life of slavery in Egypt, or whether they'd choose to serve the living God. Joshua made his declaration and all of our families join the ancient refrain,
"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." - Joshua 24:15
Spring Break may never look the same again for my family as we find our joy in serving the Kingdom together.
If you want to learn more about what God is doing in Austin through this great ministry organization, here's the link: Mission Possible
If you want to follow our adventures over the next four days, we'll be posting pictures and comments on our facebook group: Humble Families to Austin
