Serving despite how you feel

Posted by Alan Knox on Mar 24, 2010 in blog links, service | 4 comments

Jack at “Flight Level Musings” told a beautiful story of service in his post “Servanthood to a Child.” Here’s the story:

Here is a quick story that happened last night in my home. I have seven children ages five to twenty-two. My two oldest sons ages seventeen and twenty had just got home yesterday from a week in Haiti on a building project. Our house had been the drop off point for several of the team members cars.

No sooner had the team members said their goodbyes and my sons had brought in the gear from the trip, did my five year old daughter meet her seventeen year old brother in the hallway with a board game in her hands. Now picture this. My son is at least 6’3″ and weighs 210 pounds and his little sister stands just over knee-high to him.

She is looking up at him with her big blue eyes and says, “You want to play a game with me?” I looked at my son and could see the fatigue in his eyes. They had slept outdoors for seven days in the rain and mud. He hesitated a moment, but with a big grin on his face he said, “Sure!”

Which one was service: 1) the building project in Haiti or 2) playing a game with a five year old?