Medical Outreach September 2011

So, yesterday was another great day to be a part of More than more. We spent 4 hours sharing the perspective and love that is growing inside us with about 15 patients who were not able to afford doctor visits or medications or both, along with the great, dedicated workers at Bauer Center’s Durgan location, here in Lafayette. It is a wonderful thing to be able to just share some care with someone else. You see, in our society, many times having a lack of money, insurance, resources, stuff, etc, tends to carry with it a stigma that many times leaves people feeling as if they have no value at all to society and, even worse, to the people around them. This kind of despair goes right to the heart – it leaves many people feeling as if they don’t really matter to anyone.
When we give from our hearts and our skills – whether it is medical care and medicines or nail painting or face painting or balloon animals or playing games or even just smiling and laughing and chatting about life, we do more than give medicines or good advice or give nice looking manicures…we instill hope…we donate life…we give love and purpose and the very real sense that the person we are investing in actually matters – because they do. In fact, each of us has had times in our lives (or we will) when we doubted our value, we doubted our lives and someone, somewhere, decided that they would invest in us and show us that value and that has changed everything.
Now, investing in people is not easy. We usually come face to face with the reality that we cannot possibly solve all the problems of even one of these people, much less all of them, much less all of our community, much less all of our nation, all of our world. This can leave us feeling frustrated and hurt and sad. But, we also must remember that it is not ours, alone, to work out all this – only to share our portion in our time – the rest falls to the same God we learn about in More than more and who joins us in our lives. He is the One who made hearing – who allows us to recognize faces and connects us to each other in such a wonderful way. He is the One who gives us the perspective change that makes life More than more!
I do not know what the people we served and cared for yesterday took away from the time we shared. I do not know their impressions of us, nor what is happening in their hearts today. But I do know that for those 4 hours yesterday, we were doing exactly the right thing! I also know that I have seen so many peoples’ lives changed by this idea – that there is More to life than the usual American more. That More lies in seeing the Truth in life – noticing the amazingness of the God who made us and having Him be a part of our lives. It lies in sharing life together, accepting each other, as amazing and messed up as we all are. It lies in noticing each other and sharing the amazingness with those who have yet to see it.

It is a better way to live! And if it sounds interesting, tempting, we would love to have you join us tomorrow night – 9/22/11, from 6:45-8:00PM, at McAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.

Hope to see you there – keep noticing…