“I planted the seed in your hearts, and
Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s
not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important
is that God makes the seed grow. The
one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And
both will be rewarded for their own hard work.”
-1 Corinthians 3:6-8
So it’s the last day of Spring Break and
I’m about to get back into the routine of things but I wanted to tell you about
my week in New York. So this past week, I went on a mission trip with Baptist
Campus Ministry (BCM) to Long Island, New York. First off, I don’t know why I
traded my Spring Break for 30 degree weather with wind chill temperatures in
the 10-20 degree range when instead I could have been at the beach or been at
home sleeping. Honestly, I’m insane for doing such a thing but rather I’m glad
I sacrificed my comfort in order to further God’s Kingdom.
One of the major tasks that we did was
distribute fliers for Crossroads Church of Long Island, which had 2 locations
with one being in Farmingdale and the other in East Islip. They had printed
over thousands of fliers and it was our job to go door to door and put these
fliers on people’s doorknobs. When in reality, this seems absurd, tedious, and
pointless, however, I decided to look at it in a new light. While giving out
the fliers, I reminded myself, “There is at 1 person who is going through a
rough time and needs God in their life. Maybe this Easter service will allow
them to connect to God and answer their prayers.” With that mindset, I was
determined to bring about an impact in a stranger’s life through 1 simple piece
of paper.
Every mission trip I like to take something
different from it and learn something new about my faith. In a previous mission
trip where I went to New Orleans to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, you
could see physical end products like a painted home or a cleaned out lot.
During my time in New York, I wasn’t able to see a finished product and that to
me was what held me back from seeing the true purpose of my mission.
The verse I posted above I believe is the
one that most resembles my work throughout the state of New York. I’m sad I
don’t get to see how many people show up at the Easter Service at Crossroads
but I can be content in knowing that I had a part of it. I was the planter who
placed the seeds into these people’s lives and it’s ultimately all in God’s
hands who will bring about a change in them.
Sometimes it’s not always about seeing the
end result. Great things come with time and I know God is slowly at work in the
lives and hearts of all the people we came into contact with.
It’s a blessing to be a planter because one
day, we get to overlook and admire all the seeds that turned into beautiful
trees for God.
