Hi! I am glad you found my site and if you’ve been here before, thanks for coming back!

Today, I want to check in with a personal update. A few weeks ago, some church friends and I went to YWAM New Orleans on a Missions Trip to help out our Missions friends and to bless and encourage the people we came across in New Orleans.

I feel like God has a calling on my life to Missions, but at the moment it has only been sporadic, maybe one trip a year, not a full-time thing, at least not yet. Now, I haven’t been on a Missions trip in a long time, and that made me sad. It has been maybe ten years or more since the last trip I’ve been on. That includes “domestic” Missions trips in the US.

I believe all believers are called to Missions. Even if it is just a trip or two, I recommend every believer go somewhere, anywhere, out of their normal life and normal vacation spots to go and share the Gospel with others, pray for people, feed the homeless, work on a project, etc. so that they can see with new eyes all the people that Jesus came to die for.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

– Matthew 28:19-20 (CSB)

One reason I love Missions trips is that I always see God do something in me. Even if we didn’t physically see any “results” in our eyes, I have always seen a positive change in me that I can hold onto and take with me after I go home. On the trip we worked on projects around the property, we ministered to the homeless, we fed the homeless, we prayed for people and gave out water in the French Quarter, but the most impactful thing we got to do during the trip was “Kids Club”!

We went to a playground in a bad part of town and we got to play with about fifty at-risk kids from all ages as young as five to maybe seventeen years old. We played tag. We played catch. As someone who enjoys all kinds of sports, and a dad of three, I did what came natural to me. I started throwing the football around to a few kids. Then we had maybe ten or fifteen kids and we split up into teams and had a football game. There were probably over twenty kids at one time involved in this game. More kids kept joining and we played for probably an hour.

I had a blast! I loved that so many kids wanted to play and joined in. And the older kids who tried to challenge me, either on offense or defense, trying to throw a touchdown to their team, or intercept one of my passes, they were really into it. I think they were having a great time too! I had so much fun!

Talking with the older kids, pretending to be grown and acting tough, those kids were just kids too. Maybe sixteen years old, but they appreciated a father figure who wanted to play football, compete, throw the ball around, and just have fun.

It made me think of my own kids. Those kids and being a dad are my favorite part of this life. I would do anything for them. I always want to see them grow and improve and pursue the things that excite them. I will always be there for them. Some of those kids at Kids Club, they may or may not have parents that are active in their lives. Their dad might have left some time ago or maybe they never knew their dad. It was really sad to think about.

Since getting back, thinking about those kids, it has made the time I have with my own kids more special and more important to me. I help coach baseball for my son’s team, and I think of the kids at Kids Club. I try to encourage the kids when they are doing something good. I am always positive with them.

Some people see kids as a nuisance or annoyance. They should be seen but not heard. They are disruptive. They are unruly. They make messes. They are loud. They don’t have self-control. Most of that is true. But they are the future. They are the ones we leave this world to when we are not here anymore. We need to encourage and love and help those who are young, not attack or antagonize them. Remember what it was like for you when you were their age. Maybe it wasn’t good, how did you want to be treated? Treat them that way. Maybe you were that difficult kid who got in trouble, did you want to always be in trouble, or did you need grace and mercy? What if you showed that child the grace you never received?

I will leave with one final quote from Jesus about the way we are supposed to treat the young people around us, the weak, the poor:

“‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’

40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

–Matthew 25:35-40 (CSB)

Thank you for reading. I hope you got something out of it.

– Jason