Church Family,
You’ve probably noticed by now that our church has been given the privilege of hosting the SBC Disaster Relief volunteers to deal with the catastrophic flooding that hit our region in late July and early August. I’m so thankful for these volunteers, but they have definitely made us be a little more flexible as a church.
Their temporary set-up here has been a good reminder to me about a couple of things. First, and most importantly, these volunteers have been a clear picture to our area of the love of Jesus for people in crisis. I love that Southern Baptists are quick to respond and willing to step in when disaster strikes. However, there is a second thing that I have to acknowledge: it has reminded us that being in service to the Lord means we have to be willing to be flexible and adapt some of our plans for the purpose of God’s mission.
There was an interesting study done by a group of sociologists back in 1973 called “From Jerusalem to Jericho: A Study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior.” That is a mouthful, but the part of the study that I want to focus on was that researchers targeted seminary students and told them that they would be going to teach a lesson on the Good Samaritan. On the way to the event where the lesson was going to take place, the researchers, unbeknownst to the seminary students, had staged a man who needed help in an alley as they walked by. One of the groups of students were told that they were running late to the event that they were going to speak at, while the other group was not given any time restraints.
Researchers found that the amount of “hurriness” induced in the subject had a major effect on helping behavior. In “low hurry” situations, 63% of the students helped. In “high hurry” situations, only 10% helped. What does this tell us? If we are always in a hurry, we might very well miss out on being Jesus’ hands and feet! It just might be biblical to be interrupted for the sake of the Gospel! Think about when Jesus was on the way to heal Jarius’ daughter. He was walking through a crowd and stopped when He felt power going out of Him. He stopped what he was doing and allowed this interruption to happen. He ministered to the woman with the blood issue, and He didn’t consider it to be an inconvenience at all! Jesus was always on mission for God, but He didn’t seem to ever be in a hurry.
Maybe we need to slow down a little and allow interruptions into our lives. Maybe we need to be on the lookout for ways to be Jesus’ hands and feet. Having these disaster relief workers in our church and using our building has been a huge blessing…but honestly, it hasn’t always been convenient. We’ve had to move some events and shift schedules around. But you know what, I think that’s what God wants us to do! Will you join me in praying that we aren’t in such a hurry that we miss opportunities to serve the Lord? Let’s welcome these interruptions to be the hands and feet of Jesus!
In Him,
Pastor Zach Crook