Walk the Walk
For years, religion has been intertwined with our literature, music, and culture. We are, after all, firmly in the Bible Belt. As I have grown older, married, had children, and acquired a remarkable amount of gray hair for someone my age, I have become more comfortable in my personal faith. I look at my life and I see the blessing that I have been given. Notice I say “given” not earned. I’ve worked hard all my life, but I know that I can’t take credit for all that I have.
What Does Person of Faith Actually Mean?
The South has its own definition of what it means to be a Person Of Faith, but when I see and hear rhetoric that I believe goes against the actual principals of Christianity I understand why people lash out and make accusations of hypocrisy. How many times have we heard, “love the sinner but hate the sin” when all we’re really doing is focusing on the hate part? How about changing that to “ I love you, like Christ loves you”? Unconditionally, perceived sin and all. After all, I know I am not without it.
I’m tired of hearing snarky comments that Christians are lining up to get chicken, but the volunteer line at the shelter is empty. I think if we looked, we would see some truth to the comments. Politics and words don’t define people’s religious beliefs, actions do.
Hopefully you’ve stayed with me long enough to see where I am going with all of this. I’m part of the problem. I’ve been complacent with my faith and I have been lacking in my responsibilities of raising my children to be proper citizens of our community and the world.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve helped serve food at homeless shelters, helped with tornado clean up, tithed and given money to charities, but I haven’t truly involved my children. I, like a lot of parents, try to shield my children from the struggles of this world. I tell them when they haven’t finished their plates that children go to bed hungry, but how can I tell them that 15 million children die from starvation every year? (In fact, according to estimates by UNICEF, 28 children have died since you started reading this article.)
By shielding our children we are raising a weakened and less empathetic people. How can we expect them to have empathy if we don’t first show them how? Beyond being a Person of Faith, let’s do what is right and care for each other. That’s a message that goes beyond religion. Christian, Muslim, Jew, Agnostic, or Atheist – no one can argue with “love thy neighbor.”
What I’m Doing Now, With Your Help
I’m going to showcase a different community organization each month here on Rocket City Mom. I’m going to volunteer, with my two young sons, and show them what it means to serve. I’ll report back to you, the readers. My hope is to share ideas for those of you who are wanting to do more as well, those who are ready to involve your children and lay the foundation for the next generation. Some organizations will provide food and education, while others may serve in another way, but all will be supporting our community. Let’s go together, drop all pretenses, and humbly serve others.
I welcome any suggestions in the comments section of where the readers think I should volunteer. Tell me about your favorite charity and what they do there. Tell me where you see a need.
Let’s walk The Walk.
Advertisement
Very powerful, Caleb. You make excellent points. No matter what a person does or doesn’t believe, we should all be doing more to help our neighbors.
Thanks, Wendy! You’re right, we’re all in this together.
Caleb….Mrs. Eula Battles has an incredible organization, Free2Teach, that is doing fantastic things by helping out our local schools, teachers, and children that cannot afford school supplies. She has such a heart for our area school children, this is definitely an organization I would recommend looking at for a spotlight, as it is completely grass roots and volunteer based and benefits our local community tremendously! Mrs. Battles is always so gracious to give her time and to speak with anyone who will listen about what she is doing!
Leslie,
Thanks for the information. I will definitely look into that organization.
Caleb,
i as a dad, truly respect your contribution to this site and especially with such words of wisdom. I couldn’t have said it any better how people line up to do what they seem as Godly things, but don’t do the things that God says to do. Help, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, give water to the thirsty yet. My wife and I were just talking about how we can contribute in our community. We’ve come up with a gameplan, now all we have to do is execute.. We in our little shack serve customers with two scriptures…
‘Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.’ 1 John 4:7-8
and Proverbs 22:6.
You’re doing a great job and should you ever need any assistance, we(my wife children and I) will gladly join hands with you to serve.
woot – great writing Caleb!
Thanks Lee Anne!
Welcome Caleb! Lovely writing and such a timely topic!
I would suggest that you and the boys check out Christmas Charities. You can volunteer with them any time of the year but it’s especially fun at Thanksgiving and Christmas time. They have this whole storehouse where donated goods are sorted into categories. You get a shopping cart with a box in it and a list of items (it will say things like “1 vegetable, 2 meat items, 1 dessert) to put in the gift box for the family. It’s really fun putting together combinations that you think the family might like. You really start thinking, “Hey, this is going to be someone’s Christmas dinner”, imagining what the family might be like and it starts to personalize the experience. Whenever I’ve done it with my kid we make sure to pick out his favorite stuff and hope the package goes to a family with young kids. Then when that box is full, you go pick up another a do it again.
Another thing we’ve really enjoyed doing as a family is going shopping for Toys for Tots. Again, I take my 6 year old and let him pick out (within reason) his favorite toy. Then we take it to the drop off where the Marines in their dress blues accept the toy. We talk about where the toy is going and who is going to get it.
We’ve tried a couple of other things too, but those two experiences are such favorites we do them every year.
Thanks Lexie! Christmas Charities is on our list, so look for that article to come in the future.
I look forward to following your endeavor. I’m wanting to get more involved in my community and introduce my children to volunterring as well. I feel children are caught up in the gadget world, which isolates them from what actually occurs within the community they live in. I do not like how my daughter thinks the world is over if she can’t get wi-fi for more than 15 minutes! I want her to be thankful she has opportunity to explore the Internet, not everyone does.
I found it’s difficult to find opportunities for volunteering throughout the year. I’ve had to conduct some serious research to find things in our area. It’ll be great to get a consolidated list posted somewhere.
Nikki,
That’s a great idea regarding compiling a list. Talked to the folks at RCM and they agreed, so stay tuned as we get the list going.
I’ve also forgot to mention.. my wife and I have ordered a ‘party pack’ of Operation christmas child. It’s a really great way to help outside of the community as well. It’s hosted by samaritan’s purse and they partner up with veggie tales. Our entire family loves it!
Very well said! I look forward to future articles. I especially loved your comment about the adage “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” I agree 100%. I was having a discussion about that very “sentiment” this past weekend with a friend of mine. She said, “Human beings deserve more than tolerance. They deserve affirmation and love.” LOVE thy neighbor, even if you don’t agree with thy neighbor!
Jen,
That’s such a great quote, “human beings deserve more than tolerance, they deserve affirmation and love.” So very true, but so hard for people to remember.
Wow…you never know how much God is speaking through you to others. For a long time I’ve wanted to get my family into community service, but I didn’t know where to start. I had no idea how to find charity work appropriate for younger elementary students. Yesterday my daughter’s girl scout leader sent out an email asking for parent volunteers in a number of areas, one was service in the community. I jumper on it because I have this burning desire inside to start doing this. My daughter was very excited about it too. I signed on the computer to start trying to figure out what things there are for kids to do in the area to help out, but still I had no idea where to start. That’s when I checked my email and saw this post from you! It could not have come at a better time. Thank you so much for obeying God and speaking the words He put in your heart. I needed them so much 🙂 I can’t wait to steal your ideas 😉
Hi Caleb,
I appreciate your post and am glad to hear that you are striving to BE more Christ-like. Whether you are a follower of Christ or not, there are many of his teachings that cross faiths and cultures.
A few months ago I watched Ghandi (on Netflix of course) and there was a line where the missionary E. Stanley Jones asked, “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?” Gandhi replied, “Oh, I don’t reject Christ. I love Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike Christ.”
Of course there were many serious injustices occurring in his time, implemented by Christians, that were so contrary the teachings of Christ.
I admire you for showing your kids your faith based spirt of giving and service by DOING and not just talking about it. I personally believe that you can instill the idea of choosing to serve others will lead to personal happiness. And that having the freedom to choose is something that we should never take for granted. Freedom –> Choice –> Service –> Peace. This is a path that I try to follow now and hope to pass to my kids. There are so many in our nation that work towards protecting my freedom. It is my task to finish the chain above.
The trick, as usual, is recognizing how much the little ones can handle. Every child is different- one of my son’s has the deep sympathetic heart of aged adult and will give until it hurts. The other is a kid, and wants to watch Power Rangers 24×7. Our challenge is to reach them in their own way, and in our own way.
If you ever want some company in one of your service projects, shoot me a message and my boys and I will try to join you. We can make it a Boys day to remember.
Good Luck.
Sandy