“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:5
This passage from the Apostle Paul should be such a vivid reminder for each of us every day along our journey; to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. We shouldn’t be thinking in the ways of this world but be considering our thoughts, words and actions to be what Jesus would be doing in a similar circumstance.
Jesus didn’t appear on this planet to live for Himself. His entire earthly life was dedicated to serving us and giving us the most important gift of all; His life to rescue us from sin, death and the devil. It was all about Him for us, and we should strive to do likewise. Our world tells us it is all about ME and not about you, or our neighbor or about Jesus.
There are a few reasons of why Trinity HOPE seems to follow this example of service and why I enjoy volunteering my time and energy for them. Following the earthquake in January 2010 which devastated large portions of Port-au-Prince (PAP), the LCMS Disaster Response Team requested help from Trinity HOPE to provide food for families in PAP, as they purchase all their food from throughout Haiti. Trinity HOPE was able to get food from their vendors much quicker than shipping from the US and the local Churches could disperse food directly to their neighborhoods. Following the earthquake when the Typhoid Fever hit, Trinity HOPE again reached out to parents of school children with examples of how to protect their families from Typhoid with directives from a doctor with University of Nebraska Medical Center being translated into French and handed out at schools as the children could read, when their parents could not. In 2015 the Gideon Bible Organization asked Trinity HOPE to help them to give thousands of New Testaments in French to Lutheran school children throughout Haiti which was facilitated through Trinity HOPE feeding program directors. And last week, the Director of Disaster Response with the LCMS in St. Louis called to ask if Trinity HOPE might be able to help them with their efforts to provide emergency relief food to people within the hardest hit areas of Les Cayes and Jeremie; of course. Denise Gudlin and Keith Logan are in the process of working out a detailed plan that will allow their Haiti team, in conjunction with the Lutheran churches in Haiti, to purchase and distribute over 300,000 meals in these two areas over the next 60 days.
Would you consider helping to provide a meal for this young child attending the Lutheran school in Ouanaminthe? There are those in this world that will tell you to send her clothes, a radio, a smart phone, an MP3 player and a host of other North America ‘necessities’ but what she really needs is Jesus and some nutritious food. Pastor Daniel Paul and a staff of teachers are providing for her Christian education and you can help to provide her daily food. Thank you for considering supporting children in Trinity HOPE school feeding programs.
I was given a piece of paper from Gov. Kay Orr decades ago and I found it in a book recently and it had a hymn that matched well with a recent Rev. Dr. Luke Schnake message and also a few other devotions that have crossed my path along my journey. The hymn is titled ‘May the mind of Christ, my Savior’ and these words were written by Kate Barclay Wilkinson sometime before 1913.
“May the mind of Christ, my Savior, live in me from day to day, by His love and power controlling all I do and say. May the Word of God dwell richly in my heart from hour to hour, so that all may see I triumph only through His power. May the peace of God my Father rule my life in everything, that I may be calm to comfort sick and sorrowing. May the love of Jesus fill me as the waters fill the sea; Him exalting, self abasing, this is victory. May I run the race before me, strong and brave to face the foe, looking only unto Jesus as I onward go. May His beauty rest upon me, as I seek the lost to win, and may they forget the channel, seeing only Him.”
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay