Alternative Spring Break Mission Trip

This past week, I had the privilege to once again lead a mission trip over spring break. Ten of us from Montgomery County Community College went to York, PA to do disaster relief work from Hurricane Ida. Yes, you read that correctly, Ida which came in September of 2021 caused flooded basements that were never cleaned up. Due to lack of funding or insurance, these houses which had up to 14 feet of water were still left untouched. Our group of spring breakers tackled each house as if their loved ones lived there and were able to even rescue pictures and clean up family heirlooms from the muck and mire.

One of our students, Leo, said this, "Even though I am sore from four full workdays of manual labor, I am blessed and grateful that we got to serve the 'least of these' homeowners in ways they couldn't do for themselves nor pay others to do for them. As we carried bins of wet, moldy, heavy, old possessions from the basements to dumpsters, I saw the analogy that God in Jesus also enters our mess and graciously cleans up our lives, one pile of junk at a time, in partnership with us, to make us new. We must part with old possessions and ways if we want to be renewed and learn God's ways. It can be a laborious and humbling process, but it's worth it. We must surrender the old to receive the new, surrender the seen to receive the unseen, surrender the temporary to receive the eternal."