The Hands and Feet of Jesus

I have always been very involved in church work or church ministry. I love being a part of a vibrant church. We came to Highland Oaks a little over 3 years and I've been working full time at Highland Oaks for a little over a year and a half. I love my job without a doubt. I have worked at other churches but this is the first time I've done it full time. Full time work for a church is a little different. You get very busy and you can get caught up in feeling like your job is your ministry. Which I guess to a degree, it is. But if that is your only ministry, you are missing out.

Highland Oaks has begun to go out into the community lately. It's something a little new to Highland Oaks and I'm sure something a little scary for some. Highland Oaks hosted Hoops in the Highlands a few weeks ago and we were able to serve that group. My family was out of town, but I heard it was a tremendous blessing.

This past Saturday, Highland Oaks hosted an Easter Egg Hunt at a Mesquite school including a "cookie" walk, egg tosses, egg decorating, popcorn etc. I was blessed to be able to be a part of that event. It was Saturday afternoon, Chris had to work and couldn't go, so I was really kind of dreading going by myself. I even tried to talk myself out of it a couple of times, (ok, more than a couple!) but I kept feeling this nudging from God to go, even if I had to go by myself.

Well, I went...and it was amazing! It was so much fun getting to interact with the kids from that neighborhood. They were all so excited to see all of those eggs out there. We let them hunt eggs every 10 minutes and let 30 kids go at a time. After everyone had gone through once, we put out the rest of the eggs and let them go to town! We had over 8,000 eggs, yes eight thousand eggs, and we had about 300 kids! So you can imagine the excitement at the grocery bags full of eggs they all left with.

On my way home, I sat in the car and thanked God for giving me that nudge to go alone. I was truly blessed by that one hour, more than I have been in a long time. It reminded me what we as Christians are supposed to be all about. Yes, I love my job, and I wouldn't trade it for anything! But that Egg Hunt was what ministry and serving are all about! I can do all the great work for God possible inside that church building that needs to be done; and don't misunderstand me, it's work that needs and has to be done. But the work outside the church walls are what it's all about!

I had more fun Saturday than I've had in a long time serving God. That's what it means to be "The Hands and Feet of Jesus"! I pray that as a church, Highland Oaks is ready to do more of that kind of work. Not only will it bless those around us, but it will bless us more than we can possibly imagine! As the old Acappella song says, "You can't go to church cause the church is you"! So let's get that church outside more often!

Blessings!