Mission: Kentucky

I KNOW I’M JUST GETTING THIS BLOG STARTED. But I need to bail for a few days.

This morning I’m heading out on a short mission trip to help repair some homes in rural Kentucky, with the Appalachia Service Project. I’m going with a couple of dozen folks from my church in the Kansas City area.

I’m actually scouting it as a possible mission project for my Bible study group.

Our group doesn’t just study the Bible, we try to act on what we learn.

In fact, at the bottom of this post you can watch a short video of some of the folks in our group serving food at a downtown church last Saturday. Some nuns who live in the area and have taken a vow of poverty stopped by for a meal, and we sweet-talked them into singing for us. That’s on the video, too.

Serving folks in need is the kind of thing I think we Christians should be famous for.

One Bible writer put it this way:

What good is it if people claim they have faith but don’t act like it? Can that kind of faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister has no clothes or food. Suppose one of you says to them, “Go. I hope everything turns out fine for you. Keep warm. Eat well.” And you do nothing about what they really need. Then what good have you done? It is the same with faith. If it doesn’t cause us to do something, it’s dead. But someone will say, “You have faith. I do good works.” Show me your faith that doesn’t do good works. And I will show you my faith by what I do. (James 2:14-18 NIRV)

I’m more at home in front of a word-processing keyboard than behind a circular saw. A keyboard doesn’t threaten my fingers. It gets me in trouble in other ways.

Back at you in a few days, hopefully with all my appendages intact. Meanwhile, do me a big favor and keep me and the group in your prayers.