CHAPTER 10

THE YOU IN SERVING

Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. . . . Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.

ISAIAH 58:9-11

I MEET MANY PEOPLE who feel hopelessly stuck. They struggle with the same issues, problems, and attitudes for years. Many refuse to learn from their mistakes and ultimately wallow in regret their whole lives.

I’m not talking about people who come to the Dream Center for help. I’m talking about Christians who have been in church all their lives yet who are not living the life of freedom and abundance that Jesus came to give.

I once had a conversation with a woman in her sixties. She told me her troubled life story and then listed all the reasons she hadn’t lived the kind of good life she wanted. She grew up poor and had to support her family by cleaning houses.

Initially, I felt sorry for her and could understand her current attitude, given her particular setbacks and challenges. Despite her excuses, I could see that she loved God. But I could also see how the excuses held her back from living out God’s promises. This woman had all the tools she needed to change her life. She had a personal relationship with God. She read the Bible and powerful Christian books. She knew about God’s promises of victory, strength, and provision. My compassion turned to pity. This woman was living a less-than kind of life based on excuses, not legitimate reasons. She never took God at His Word. She never applied biblical principles to her life. She never stood on His promises.

I know she’s not alone. A lot of believers are paralyzed by brokenness. It seems impossible to change or break free from shackles like addiction, unforgiveness, and regret.

Serving Others Is Self-Help

Some people strive for a better life but still seem stuck. They may even own a dozen self-help books to help “fix” them. There is a countless supply of books you can buy that claim to have the answer on how to be confident, successful, happy, and fulfilled—how to live purposefully, have a great marriage, live with gratitude, and so on. It seems every day a new book is released on how we can improve, be healed from emotional trauma, or become whole in some way. I’m not against self-help books by any means, but . . . it makes me wonder.

As I’ve said, there are 358 references in the Bible to helping the poor, the needy, the widow, and the orphan. Could it be that the reason we still need to buy these self-help books is because we are not helping others and doing what God has asked us to do over three hundred times?

When we obey God and serve others, He changes us from the inside out. He shapes our hearts to better reflect His. We can even experience healing. I find we are always at our best when we are serving.

Making the Broken Whole

When I think how helping others heals the one who is serving, I think of Becky. For the last four years she has been involved in Project Prevention, making weekly visits to families, coordinating sixty volunteers per week, and delivering furniture and other essentials. You would never know that she had endured an extremely hard life. Becky says,

I was placed into the foster-care system immediately after birth. I was on a heart monitor due to severe sleep apnea. My birth mother had been on seizure medication during her pregnancy, which had compromised me in the womb. I was on a monitor for over a year and was inconsolable when I cried. When I was three I became very ill and was hospitalized for two weeks. I had sixteen inches of dead intestines removed.

After five years of court hearings, I was finally adopted by my foster parents. Over the course of thirty years, my parents have fostered hundreds of children, most of them with major health issues. Most of my brothers and sisters and I had to grow up very fast. We had to learn how to handle babies and children who were on heart monitors or trachea machines, had Down syndrome, were addicted to drugs in utero, had been sexually abused, and so on. As a child, I never understood why I couldn’t have been raised in a normal family.

I followed in my older brothers’ footsteps of partying and drinking. I got pregnant at nineteen and was planning on having an abortion. When I went in for the abortion, the doctor couldn’t find the baby. Four hours later, my right fallopian tube had ruptured and I started bleeding internally. I needed emergency surgery.

For three years, I lived with an abusive boyfriend. I started drinking, which magnified my bad temper. Finally, one of my brothers came and took me out of that situation. My drinking got worse.

When I was twenty-two, I moved three hours from home and had my first encounter with God. I decided to stop partying so much and start attending church. I found out about the Dream Center and heard about their outreaches.

A fire ignited inside me—more than anything else, I wanted to help children who couldn’t help themselves. I had spent so many years of my youth despising the kids I was raised with and the life I was given. In that moment I fell to my knees and started crying.

When I first arrived at the Dream Center, I was very excited to be in a place where I knew God had called me and I felt accepted. All the hurt, bitterness, anger, and hatred that had built up inside me started dissolving.

As I served and loved on families who felt like there was no hope, families who felt like it was all over for them, God began to heal me. I want the families I work with to believe in themselves.

My dream is to one day open a ranch and have as many children and horses as possible. I want it to be a safe place where kids who are in the foster-care system can learn about themselves, appreciate the life God has given them, and know that they can be a positive influence in the world.

Finding Peace through Service

When you are willing to walk on water, God will surprise you with unforeseen blessings in your inner life. Lindsay, who works for Project Prevention, knows what that’s like. God has used her acts of service to provide peace and healing in an area she had struggled with for a long time. She says,

I came to the Dream Center after I found myself in the midst of an abusive living situation and had nowhere to turn. I was a nanny working for a single father who was trying to make a better life for his son. The boy’s mother visited him regularly. Through my involvement, his parents were able to provide him a safe and healthy environment for about three years. Then things began to unravel. The father fell back into his old lifestyle of drugs and crime. He became very violent, especially toward me. I finally left to get help for myself through the Dream Center’s discipleship program.

Though I found a lot of healing and was truly blessed there, I couldn’t stop thinking about the little boy I had cared for. I struggled with the fact that I had failed to keep his family together. Shortly after I arrived at the Dream Center, I learned that his dad had been put in jail and the boy eventually ended up in foster care.

I started working with Project Prevention. One day as I was loading the truck to head out and visit our families, I was once again struck with grief and pain over the little boy I had tried but failed to help. Suddenly God spoke to me in a way that I will never forget. He showed me that I was now doing for twenty families per week what I couldn’t do for one family in three years. He was using my willingness and passion for children to accomplish far more than I had been doing on my own! That day I found the peace I longed for. I never imagined that I would find it in the midst of giving and serving others, but that is exactly where the blessing and healing came from for me!

God’s Thoughts on Serving

I think Isaiah 58 encompasses the idea of how helping people in need pleases God and also offers the incredible personal benefits we can reap as a result.

Verses 2 through 5 remind me of the Christian who attends church and goes through the motions, but doesn’t have a heart to help God’s hurting people. God is very clear that He is not moved by this kind of behavior. “They . . . seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation . . . pretending they want to be near me. ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed?’ . . . It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. . . . Do you really think this will please the LORD?”

Verses 6 and 7 describe what does impress God, in particular helping those in need. “This is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.”

Finally, in verses 8 through 12 we have a beautiful list of personal benefits that come when we help relieve social injustice—salvation, healing, direction to move forward, protection, God’s ear to answer prayer requests quickly, relief from oppression, being light in darkness, renewed strength, limitless endurance, and a good name. Wow! God guarantees us these things if we willingly step forward in faith and serve others. Believing these promises would certainly make a difference in our personal struggles, suffering, and obstacles.

I think about the Israelites and their long journey to the Promised Land. After God delivered them from Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. They should have arrived at their destination in eleven days. I believe that instead of living as children of God and going about doing, acting, and giving the way God commanded them, they chose to live with a slave mentality. They exhibited certain qualities that prevented them from reaching their promised destination.

Here are nine lessons you can learn while serving others that will strengthen your character and increase your faith. These truths will keep you from a life of wasted years, regret, and repeated cycles of struggle and brokenness.

As you start working with people in need, you will find that many of them have negative attitudes. It’s easy to see why they have been stuck in their situations for so long. But before we can help someone else, let’s make sure we take all of the planks out of our own eyes. It’s much easier to model a life lived in wholeness than to try to teach principles you haven’t experienced on your own.

When you serve others, you will learn to:

Stand Firm and Steady

When you serve others—give to the poor, help a widow, save a child from entering the foster-care system, contribute to a cause to provide clean water, volunteer for an organization—you are constantly aware of God’s hand at work. You don’t just hear about miracles—you personally witness them. You see how faithful God is and that evidence inspires you to keep believing and hold on to His promises. It was something the Israelites refused to do.

Moses was called to lead the people out of Egypt, out of slavery and bondage. God gave him a promise. “I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians. . . . And I will cause the Egyptians to look favorably on you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed” (Exodus 3:20-21).

This promise wasn’t immediately fulfilled. Pharaoh, the Egyptian leader, refused to let the people of Israel go. As their confidence waned, God’s people started disbelieving the promise of God and turned against Moses, accusing him of putting a sword into the Egyptians’ hands in order to kill them (Exodus 5:21). The brutality of their slavery discouraged them (Exodus 6:9).

Despite their fears and doubts, God came through on His word. Moses led them out of Egypt and they left, as God promised, with some pretty amazing parting gifts from their captors (Exodus 12:35-36).

Whenever I serve on a food truck site or with Adopt-A-Block, I come across many people who have needs. I constantly tell them about God’s promises that are relevant to their particular situations. When they accept the message and start trusting God, I see prayers answered. Not only do they receive God’s promises, but those same promises are ingrained deeper into my own heart.

I remember when the city of Los Angeles attempted to take our building and turn it into a high school. Legally, they could seize the land for the public good according to the right of eminent domain. I stood fast in prayer with others at the Dream Center and even people in the community. I stood firm in my faith. I held on to God’s promises, believing that He had given us this campus to help the people of Los Angeles. The public council meeting to resolve this issue was full of supporters on our behalf. And in the end, we were able to keep the building and continue serving others.

I believe that in the process of encouraging others to keep the faith, my own is strengthened. It’s what has helped me to stand unwaveringly during challenging seasons.

Stop Complaining

Before the people of Israel had gone very far, Pharaoh changed his mind. He gathered his army and began to chase down God’s people, initiating their forty years of complaints.

As Pharaoh approached, panic ensued. They cried out to the Lord, then targeted Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? . . . It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!” (Exodus 14:10-12).

Why were they so worried? Why do we complain instead of trust?

When God parted the Red Sea for His people’s safe passage and drowned their pursuers, the people of Israel once again “put their faith in the LORD” (Exodus 14:31).

Unfortunately, their awe was short-lived. They never stopped complaining and continued to flip-flop between praising God and grumbling. I believe that had the Israelites been helping others, their complaints would have all but disappeared.

There is something about serving that shines a spotlight on just how petty our complaints are. We realize that other people have it so much worse than we do. A friend of mine who works in an orphanage in Haiti says that many people who live in the city actually consider the orphans privileged because they receive food, clothing, and an education. In fact, parents even beg the orphanage to take their children in, not because they don’t love them, but so they can be provided for.

I learned a lesson while serving on the food truck one morning. Someone had donated pallets of individual-sized bags of cheese popcorn to distribute. I was thrilled, thinking, What a great after-school treat for the kids waiting in line with their parents!

It wasn’t until the last parent was handed groceries that I noticed it. There was popcorn everywhere! Orange kernels littered the concrete, filling every crack. It was as if the heavens had opened up and rained popcorn. I was steaming! And when I realized there was only one broom in the truck, I became even more irritated. It would take me forever to clean up the mess.

I clutched the wooden broom handle and began sweeping it every which way, clearing the street and sidewalk. Suddenly, a sense of gratitude filled my heart. I thanked God for providing us with another week of food. As the popcorn kernels landed in my hair and stuck to my jeans, I thanked God for letting me be a part of this awe-inspiring ministry. By the time I reached the end of the block and turned the corner, God met me in a powerful and incredible way. His presence filled every inch of my heart, just as the popcorn had filled every part of the street.

I’ve been blessed to have many similar experiences in church and in some of the most inspiring conferences I’ve attended around the world. But they all pale in comparison to how God touched my heart doing something as simple as cleaning up popcorn. God turned my complaints into praise.

You can’t help but be thankful for what you have when you are serving people less fortunate than you. A thankful heart is a happy heart that is so full there’s no room for complaints. Adopt an attitude of gratitude.

Remember God’s Goodness

The Israelites suffered from short-term memory. One minute they were excited and praised God for His provision and miracles. But as soon as the next challenge came, they reverted to panic mode. They whined and complained. They forgot what God was capable of and how His faithfulness never wavered.

Many times in the Old Testament God’s people are encouraged to write down and tell their children all of the miracles God performed for their families. I think this is important for us to do today. Literally count your blessings. Write down every miracle and every answered prayer. Read this list over and over. Continually keep it before you. When you remember God’s goodness, you will never complain.

Cindy was serving at the Dream Center when her mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Even through this difficult time, serving gave her hope and reminded her that God is still good. She recalls,

I grew up with a single mom who loved me dearly. My mom heard about the Dream Center and started bringing me to the youth services and the hip-hop dance classes being offered there. I started volunteering as much as I could and eventually became a full-time volunteer.

After my second year as a volunteer, my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor. My faith was shaken. For the first time I started doubting that God loved me and would come through. During the three months that we waited for her to have surgery, I volunteered for various outreaches nearly every day. God was answering prayers and performing miracles for the people we were reaching out to. It reminded me that God was good and that there was hope for my mom. If He could perform miracles for them, then surely He could do the same for me.

My mother made it through the surgery. During her eight-month recovery, I continued to serve. Helping others brought me through this very tough and scary season. It renewed my faith and hope in God’s goodness.

It’s hard for me not to remember God’s goodness. He has been so faithful over the years. I am so thankful for what God has done for me in my life, especially as I serve others. He has blessed me with the personal benefits listed in Isaiah 58—salvation, healing, protection, and renewed strength. I love thanking God for all He has done. And I know how much He loves to hear our praise and thanksgiving.

Get a Better Perspective

Let’s face it: life is hard for every one of us to varying degrees. At some point, you’ll probably be dealt some devastating blows. But as you serve others, you will find people who have been or are experiencing far worse situations. As you interact with them, you will see God’s hand at work as He faithfully and deeply heals their hearts. In fact, you will see God transform them so much that they adopt a positive attitude and are not negatively affected by their trials or discouraged by what the future holds. If you’re struggling in your own life, this attitude of gratitude can transform your perspective too.

Merrilee has been a case manager for homeless families at the Dream Center for years. She committed to make a difference in the lives of others even when she went through a difficult time in her personal life. God used that experience to bless her in more ways than she could ever have imagined. Merrilee says,

I have had the privilege of going to the Dream Center for the past ten years. When my husband and I first started attending, we were overwhelmed by the opportunities to serve in the community. We both wanted to quit our corporate jobs and go into full-time ministry. We couldn’t believe the needs of people all around our community and the opportunities that were available to fill and meet those needs through our new church. As time went on, we began to understand that we were needed in the corporate world to be a light and to also generate an income to help fund the ministries at the Dream Center.

When I became pregnant with twins, I quit my corporate job and became a full-time mom. About three years ago our church opened up a floor in the Dream Center devoted to homeless families. My heart broke at the thought of these children sleeping in the park or in cars because they didn’t have a home to go to. I knew that this was something I wanted to be a part of. I began volunteering as a case manager for several of the families, meeting with them weekly. Through goal setting, mentoring, and accountability, we work together to get them transitioned back into their own homes and independent living.

Serving in this capacity has truly changed my life. I get the chance to see firsthand what God can do in the lives of these families. Most of these people come in broken and discouraged. I watch their lives start to change as they begin to receive love and acceptance. I see them learn and make new choices that can positively affect their future. I can never doubt the restoring power of Jesus Christ because I get to witness it with these families.

I also see my personal life so much differently. Last year I went through some real struggles in my marriage. My initial reaction was to stay home and feel sorry for myself. However, I had made a commitment to these families and needed to show up every week. It was the best therapy I could ever have received. It is amazing how small your problems can seem when you begin to really see what other people are dealing with. As I prayed and believed for these families, it strengthened my faith during my own trials. I began to focus on the positive aspects of my marriage and not the problems.

Being able to serve these families has blessed me far more than it has blessed them. They have shown me the power of resilience and the determination to not give up. Serving others has increased my compassion for the hurts and needs of people. It has opened my eyes to what is really important and lasting in life and encouraged me to put my energy into those things while balancing the joys of being a mother and wife.

Stop Feeling Entitled

Entitlement is a dangerous, crippling attitude. It says, “I was so wronged that everyone should pay. I deserve recompense.” I have seen people use their hardships as an excuse their entire life. Yes, life is unfair and sometimes people can say and do terrible things to us. But too many expect God or others to coddle them or give them handouts as a result, essentially payment for their troubles.

I have seen firsthand how a sense of entitlement can lead to unhealthy behaviors. People with this attitude tend to depend on world systems instead of God as their provider and source of all things. They carry themselves in a way that pushes people and opportunities away. They remain stuck because they are waiting for things to happen instead of being proactive and initiating change.

There is an indescribable thrill in accomplishing and overcoming on your own, with God’s help. It’s rewarding, even more than being given a free ticket because you think you deserve it. Does a good parent give his child everything she asks for just because she wants it? No. A good parent knows when to say no and when to empower his child to get what she wants on her own.

The apostle Paul wrote,

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

EPHESIANS 3:16-19

God gives us the tools to lead a full life. But not necessarily on a silver platter.

Leave the Past Behind

Focusing your attention on the past can be unhealthy. The Israelites were notorious for using the past as a reason to complain in the present. “There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron. ‘If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt,’ they moaned. ‘There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death’” (Exodus 16:2-3). Had they been serving others, the Israelites would have been reaping all the benefits and they would never have looked back.

When you obsess over the past—whether it was good or bad, full of hurt or even great accomplishments—you can cripple your present and limit your future. At the Dream Center we have experienced major miracles and exciting opportunities every year. From the first time we opened the doors until now, we could have stopped and patted ourselves on the back for past accomplishments. But by not dwelling on yesterday’s achievements and because God is constantly surprising us with more than we could ever imagine, we look forward to growing and doing more. It’s exciting to think what else God has in store for us if we continue to help those He has asked us to serve.

In Luke 9:62 Jesus says, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” God clearly has no desire or need for us to look back. That move will only keep us from where He wants us to go.

Maybe you are hesitant to step out in faith and walk on water because you fear that your past will come back to haunt you. One of the promises in Isaiah 58:8 is that “the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.” Many people who graduate from our discipleship program commit a year of their life to the Dream Center and give back through service. And many of these people have told me that somehow—no doubt through a miracle—their entire criminal record has been cleared. I’m not saying this will happen to everyone, but I can stand firm on the promise that God will not allow people’s past to prevent them from boldly moving forward into the future He has in store for them.

Believe That He’ll Take Care of You

Jesus said, “Don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:31-33).

God takes care of us. He promises to in His Word. I have experienced God’s provision in small ways and big ways throughout my entire journey. Not only has God taken care of my basic needs, like food and clothing, He has shown up and cared for me through those I serve.

I like how 2 Corinthians 9:12-14 reads in The Message: “Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. . . . This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the . . . Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they’ll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need.”

I have experienced this “passionate intercession” in my own life. Years ago, I was praying for a family member in trouble. Though I tried to help her several times, I realized I was only hurting her by stepping in and trying to save her. I had to let her reach rock bottom. It was painful. I was worried she’d die before she turned her life around. But I had to trust God.

Some of the people in our recovery program heard about this woman and started praying with me for her. Two months later, she entered that very program. It’s amazing how God can use the same people you help to bless, encourage, and provide for you. And to show you how much He cares.

One of our volunteers for Ramona Gardens, an Adopt-A-Block site, learned about God’s provisions as she taught young women about true love relationships, God’s love, and the importance of purity. The volunteer’s passion to reach broken girls stemmed from her own brokenness. Here’s her story:

As a child, I never knew what real love was. My mom frequently brought home “trophies”—male and female lovers. I never really knew it was wrong.

When I was five years old, one of my mom’s lovers started raping me. This went on for nine years. When I finally discovered the message of Jesus, how He died for us and showed us the true meaning of everlasting love, I began to slowly heal. I knew that I wanted to teach about love to others who had not been shown true love.

Today I am the site leader of Ramona Gardens. About a year ago, I prayed about what I could do for the young ladies who lived there. God placed a vision in my heart to teach these girls about His pure and everlasting love. Most of the girls in the projects didn’t grow up with fathers. If they did, those fathers were always in and out of the home or sexually abused the girls.

With the help of other volunteers like Yoshi and Mary, we started three-month-long classes covering topics like dating, boundaries, and purity. At the end of the three months, we planned on throwing the girls a ball to celebrate their graduation and honor their commitment to purity. I wanted the girls to have the time of their lives, but it was expensive. I needed to provide purity rings, dresses, food, escorts, a venue, and a photographer. I didn’t know how we could afford it all. At the same time, four other sites agreed to teach these classes and participate in the ball. My dream was getting bigger.

Miraculously, God began to provide. Jonah, one of the leaders at the Dream Center, helped secure a venue and encouraged the women at Angelus Temple to donate dresses. But I still had to come up with the funds to buy the rings, food, and flowers. I started to stress because with bills, gasoline usage, and my own life to handle, I knew I couldn’t do it alone.

God opened a door through social networking, and many generous people, including my mother and previous site leaders from Ramona Gardens, donated funds. The offering my mother gave was a sign of her healing.

Things began to fall into place the closer we got to the event. The purity ball was amazing. Through this process, God taught me about fully trusting Him and His plans. I learned that the vision He gives me He will see through to the end. He will always work things out.

Always Be Teachable

In order to live healed and whole and carry out the dreams God has put on our hearts, we have to remain teachable—no matter how old we are. Some people feel that after a certain age, they have “arrived” and have no need to learn anything more. But there’s always more to learn. Always.

Why are some life lessons so hard to learn? When we refuse to listen to God, we usually find ourselves in the same bad predicament time and time again. Hebrews 3:7-11 reminds us how important it is to listen to God:

The Holy Spirit says,

“Today when you hear his voice,

don’t harden your hearts

as Israel did when they rebelled,

when they tested me in the wilderness.

There your ancestors tested and tried my patience,

even though they saw my miracles for forty years.

So I was angry with them, and I said,

‘Their hearts always turn away from me.

They refuse to do what I tell them.’

So in my anger I took an oath:

‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

God got frustrated with the Israelites because they were unteachable; they refused to listen to Him. If He got irritated with them, He must get frustrated with us.

I have learned to be open to what God can teach me through serving others. For instance, being willing has taught me to have greater compassion, to understand the plight behind a person’s pain instead of making general assumptions about his or her condition. Being teachable has also strengthened my faith and freed my spirit.

Respect Your Leaders

When you complain about the leaders in your life, you are actually complaining about God. The Israelites continually turned against Moses. I’m sure there were moments he wished he could be an Egyptian prince again and punish them. I’m shocked by how often the Israelites attacked Moses and Aaron, his second in command.

Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “By evening you will realize it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt. In the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that you should complain about us?” Then Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the LORD, not against us.”

EXODUS 16:6-8

Moses probably wouldn’t have scripted his life the way God did. Moses didn’t ask to be put in a basket and given to an Egyptian princess. He did not ask to encounter a talking burning bush that would give him marching orders for a scary mission. He even bargained with God to let Aaron speak on his behalf because he felt unqualified. But Moses continued to lead the people of Israel because God told him to. The man deserved some respect.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God” (Romans 13:1).

If you work in a secular environment for someone who is not a Christian, you are still required to respect and serve him or her well. Otherwise, you are misrepresenting God and not fulfilling whatever He has you there to accomplish and learn.

We have to live our lives for God, not others. God notices our efforts even if the leaders we serve do not. Then, whatever we do, whenever we work for others as unto the Lord, we will enjoy our work and in God’s time we will reap a reward. “My dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

I have always done the best I could at every job I’ve had, from my first job as a teenager at a clothing store, to flipping burgers at In-N-Out, to volunteering at the Dream Center. Doing the minimum just to get by isn’t my style. I’ve always tried to be conscientious about every task and carry out responsibilities with excellence.

A Life of Service, Adventure, and Joy

I admire my father-in-law, Tommy Barnett, and am inspired by his example. He always says that he wishes he could have a hundred more years to live, to serve those in need.

Tommy’s late father was one of the pioneers of the bus ministry, so it was natural for Tommy to follow in his dad’s footsteps. He recognized the importance of providing transportation for people who couldn’t get to church on their own, most of whom lived in lower-income neighborhoods.

When Tommy built his church in Phoenix, some of the deacons started complaining. They thought that since the congregation was growing and they were now an “established” church, it wasn’t necessary to continue busing in worshipers from those neighborhoods. Tommy disagreed and lost some deacons in the process. But I’m convinced that God continues to bless Tommy because of that willingness to serve.

Do you want to be freed from regrets? To stop wallowing in your mistakes? Do you want to stop being haunted by your past? Do you want to stop repeating the same cycle of sin? Do you want to be whole and full of joy, faith, and power?

Start walking on water.