Free to Serve

Wears Valley Ranch Needs Additional Staff

In 1991 Jim Wood, the former pastor of the church I now serve, founded a home and school to help children in crisis. It's called the Wears Valley Ranch and it is situated in Sevierville, Tennessee (not far from Pigeon Forge). They serve a maximum of 32 students, all with a troubled background.  

Jim and his wife, Susan, have a real desire to invest in the lives of these kids. As you can imagine, finding godly, qualified, and committed staff is always an issue. Many of the positions (like house parents or mentors) are usually short-term opportunities (1-2 years). 

If you know of someone who would be willing to serve in this way, contact Wears Valley Ranch and let them know. Please pray they would find men and women who know how to apply the gospel to the lives of these kids each and every day.

 

Working More and Working Less

There are two types of people: those who are looking for ways to work more and those who are looking for ways to work less.

The danger of the first group is that they forget the biblical mandate to rest. They can invest so much in their vocation they neglect their friends, their families, even proper care of their bodies. But there can be advantages to being part of the first group, too. If you are looking for ways to work, it may be out of a godly desire to be productive. If this is you, you may see problems that need to be solved, challenges that need to be overcome, and so you devote yourself to working with excellence.

The danger of the second group, those who are working for ways to work less, is laziness. They can invest so much in leisure that they neglect the biblical mandate to work. They accomplish little because they work little. They are happy living with low expectations. Of course, there are some advantages to be considered. Those who look for ways to work less may rightly recognize that rest is important, that there is more to life than a paycheck, and that there are adventures to enjoy that are separate from a vocation. If this is you, you may see your work as the thing that frees you up to do what you really want to do: spend time volunteering, giving to charity, investing in your family.

It is worth asking which category fits you best. Are you always looking to work more or are you consistently trying to work less? Why? Your answer to those two questions will say a lot about what you value and, ultimately, who you serve. Work and rest are both really important. Both have existed from the dawn of creation--before sin ever entered the world. But in our fallen world, we are tempted to neglect one for the sake of the other. What are you neglecting?

I better get back to work.

Serving God in Your Profession

I've been very helped by Dorothy Sayers little essay, "Why Work?" Here is another excerpt. Here, she reminds the Christian that all work is sacred.

Let the Church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade--not outside it. The Apostles complained rightly when they said it was not meet [that is, appropriate] they should leave the word of God and serve tables; their vocation was to preach the word. But the person whose vocation it is to prepare the meals beautifully might with equal justice protest: It is not meet for us to leave the service of tables to preach the word.