Servanthood...

Silent servants... I am so touched by them right now...perhaps you are familiar with the type I'm talking about.

The ones who put $200 dollars into your checking account without you knowing it and expect no fanfare or hype and honestly are somewhat uncomfortable with a thank you. That never was their motivation.

The ones who walk up to you a few days after you have given a presentation in which you mentioned your friend who begs in the middle of the street and who has one leg amputated at the knee, and therefore permanently uses crutches...who watched intently enough with a servants eyes to know that he needed a new pair and so gave me a pair to give to him.

The ones who at 16 or 17 years old come up with an idea to help raise money for what you're doing, totally unbeknownst to you, and walk up and hand you an envelope with almost $400 in it because they've had a baleada dinner at their church and want you to use the money. (Just so happens it was the perfect amount to be able to pay off a lawyer bill to complete my residency to allow me to stay in the country to help these kids and came at a PERFECT time after I had been praying ok God please come up with this somewhere, please. He chooses the most perfect servants at the most perfect times.)

Or the sweet lady who read on my blog that I had given a little boy my jacket and so showed up with a new one in a gift bag for me when she came to my presentation. The heart of a servant looking for ways to give.

The ones who when you have a sick little guy in the hospital and are sick yourself, come out every night and help you take care of the rest of these precious kiddo's, and NEVER once complain even when they're drinking tie dye or various other craziness.

The ones who spend hours and hours preparing a meal at their home for 10 kiddo's who have never seen a feast like this in their entire life...who takes each minute as it comes with broken Christmas tree bulbs and spilled you name it...and lavishes love through her quiet servanthood.

Or the person who while you're home shows up at nearly every presentation out of approximately 10, no matter how many times they may have heard everything you've said and will say again, and when encouraged to not come or to leave early responds with an "I'm right where I want to be." And then when you're away sits down every day to remind you you're covered in prayer and in love. Who faithfully promises to hold up weary arms some days and chants from those knees in prayers I am confident of..."you can do this, come on lift your head up, God is faithful!!"

The gentleman who showed up for one day to visit at church and it just so happened to be the day I was giving a 10 minute presentation and came up afterward and handed me a business card and asked me to get him information on where he could send money to help. A few days later he sent $1000 to support this ministry. I know little more about this precious man than his name. I am humbled however by his servanthood.

Or the gal that I work with in this ministry who gives and gives and gives more than most people will ever know until she's exhausted and then gets up the next day to do it again. Who in some moments believes she's not doing it so well right now in the middle of hectic and hard, but who gave up her life to be here doing it and loves on these children with giftedness to do so. She humbles me often.

I could go on and on and on right now, I really could, and this fails to do justice, I've only picked a snippet from a huge selection of stories. Let's just say that my feet are so spankin clean cause they've just been in the basin so many times by so many different people recently. Most often I am just standing with my mouth open thinking I do not deserve this. (Oh come on, you know the feeling, it's the same way you feel when your feet are in there.) My jaw is dropped and within just a few seconds I find myself on my knees. It's a place I've become a whole lot more familiar with over the past year, for various reasons, but one I'm becoming extremely familiar with is humbled. God and I meet there often because of silent servants who have shown up at the perfect time, probably totally without them knowing there was the need and yet were a testament in huge ways of God's faithfulness.

Not only that, but they have been great teachers in the beauty of servanthood when most of the rest of the world knows nothing about it. They have reminded me the value of invisibility when it comes to sacrifice and serving, and more than even the money or the gifts or the "stuff" I am grateful to you all for what you've taught my heart.

I would publicly thank you here, but that just wouldn't be the point now would it. That was never what you were after. And I will in no way taint the purity of how you've learned to give.

I am honored and humbled and this heart thanks all of you who took the time to get on your knees put a towel around your waist and serve in the ways of Your Master. You've touched me!!