Go Beyond

Christine is a single mom facing some tough challenges. Her oldest son is battling leukemia and is currently in the hospital getting a bone marrow transplant. And, one of her two youngest sons has Down Syndrome and requires special care. But, you would never know any of this by talking to Christine. She has a consistently positive outlook and a faith that runs deep. It’s not easy raising three boys on an hourly wage job, but Christine somehow manages to provide for her family. She is undoubtedly one of the hardest working and never-complaining single moms I know.

Cynthia, Pastor Alex’s assistant, cleaning cabinets.

When we learned that Christine’s son would need a very sterile living environment upon release from the hospital, we mobilized our Kingsland staff to help. Over the past three days we moved everything out of her two-bedroom apartment, removed the carpet and replaced it with hypoallergenic tile, cleaned it from top to bottom, repainted every wall, and purchased some much-needed furniture. I could not help but smile the entire time because of the way in which our staff worked cooperatively to meet this need. Even Dan, our IT guy who works at Kingsland two days a week, gave us a day of his time. Afterward Dan sent us an email in which he said, “I can’t thank you enough for letting me be a part of GoBeyond help towards assisting Christine and her family. KBC is awesome and truly wonderful! I worked muscles I did not know existed!”

Dan’s comment about working muscles he did not know existed reminded me of my old friend Paul Haas. Paul used to wear a t-shirt to our service initiatives that was imprinted with this message: “Work the muscles. Build the heart.” I like that! I have learned over the years that paint brushes and hammers are powerful tools for personal transformation. God can use a simple thing like a paint brush in your hand to do more than touch up a wall. He can use it to color your heart with compassion and to brighten your own outlook on life.

I am grateful to serve with such compassionate and caring folks on our Kingsland staff and encouraged by their let’s-get-it-done response to Christine’s need. Our labor this week reminded me of something I recently read in Mark Batterson’s book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity. Batterson wrote, “God loves the smell of our sweat. It stinks to high heaven, but it’s a sweet aroma. Your sweat is sacred incense. God loves it when we break a sweat serving His purposes. Our energy turns into beautiful melodies, and it’s music in God’s ear. It’s also the way we build sweat equity in His kingdom.” Each of us have hearts that are beating a little stronger this week because we worked our muscles and broke a sweat to help a single mom in need.