Meditation by Max

by Max Ralph

Today we had a blast in New Orleans! We had our service day today and we were ready to do our part in helping the poeple of New Orleans. We had a group lunch and continued our day by interacting in a Bible study with Pastor Patrick Keen about modern forms of slavery. Through Paul's letter to the Corinthians, we learned that we should not be divided by individual differences but be united by our faith in Jesus Christ. We ended our day by visiting the Confederate Civil War museum. We learned a lot about early New Orleans culture and general confederate life during the Civil War.

As our group reflected on our day, there was a general air of disappointment. Before today, we envisioned our Service Day Project as a very tangible experience where we would help the people of New Orleans in a very physical way and see the rewards of our labor right away. We thought we were going to be doing manual labor and helping people in need. While some groups did just that, we were faced with a different, maybe more challenging, call as Christians.

Since our arrival here, we have learned about the importance of and necessity for advocacy in our world today. At our devotions tonight, we recognized that we experienced this day for a reason. We recognized that we have been called to do something highly important. We have been called to START a project to help people rather than follow the actions of countless others who stand up for the justice of the less fortunate. We are ultimately called as Christians to identify an issue and make an effort to solve that problem. Advocacy can and must lead to ACTION.

So instead of going home feeling satisfied that we helped people [in New Orleans], we will go home with great intentions to help our community at home with the problems we face today.

~ Max Ralph