Called to serve -- yesterday, today and every day!

As we returned to the states on furlough (March, 2011), the call to serve didn’t cease. The opportunities to serve the Lord with gladness continued to come our way. It was pure ‘fun’ to reach out and help others even though we were on furlough. After all, we were just in a different location, still ready and capable to lend a hand, to minister to others, to encourage, and to plan with the short-term mission Team Leaders for the upcoming trip. Come to think of it, we are all called to serve. Not just in a full-time service role, or in a specific organization, or on the foreign field, but wherever we are, yesterday, today and every day!

As we enjoyed being home in the states, we found ourselves meeting with some who needed a word of encouragement. We were able to visit some who were dealing with physical limitations; seeing them, hugging them and empathizing with them was a ministry in itself. Helping a friend with dishes, visiting another and doing some laundry, stopping at the library to catch up with a lonely friend, sharing with AWANA kids who wanted to ask some questions of a ‘real missionary’, and even listening as another shared their complicated medical issues. The opportunity to help our own children and grandchildren in simple daily tasks was fun. We listened as other friends shared the difficulties they were experiencing – financial, health, and unemployment. As we listened to them, we heard them and were able to encourage them personally without the use of the internet. That face to face communication is so rich. It seems to me it is missing in a lot of our lives these days. We are so busy we tend to use the internet for communicating, even when we are in close proximity to one another. What a convenience it is, and we can’t imagine life without it, but the internet also has eliminated personal interactions and thus we have lost the warm, rewarding benefits of having friends and being friendly.

There were email exchanges with the Team Leaders of a short term mission group coming to Lima this summer. Thanks to the internet, we were able to stay connected with these wonderful people, read their prayer requests, and join with them in the planning of trip details. In our absence from San Juan de Lurigancho, we maintained communications with the Bonners from Hope House, and other friends from our home church in San Juan de Lurigancho.

We are called to serve; not just Don and Joy Norris. That’s all inclusive of those who are part of the church, the body of Christ, Christians, born-again believers. Serving Him and His people are what we are called to do. No matter where we are. A furlough, vacation, or time off doesn’t mean we don’t continue to serve, but it means we have a break from the daily tasks facing us and we must take the opportunity to review and renew His call to us, and serve in a different environment for a short period of time. This is a reminder of the verse we claimed for 2011 – Proverbs 16:9 In our hearts we plan our course, but the Lord determines our steps