A LESSON IN SERVANTHOOD

This year, we tried to create some new events that would invite our supporters to visit Unity. It wasn’t as successful as we hoped. However, there were a couple of very meaningful experiences.

In March, we invited the newest members of our Andrews Society for a breakfast reception. Named in honor of our very first student, Shamaurie Andrews, these are friends who have already named Unity as beneficiary in their estate plans. Only one couple accepted our invitation, but the Eighth Grade class had prepared for the reception, so things went on as planned.

As it turned out, the couple was very gracious in sitting with our students and just chatting for an hour or so. They shared their lives, asked questions about the future, and generally enjoyed getting to know our students better. There is great value is in that type of experience.

During the discussion, two girls accidentally spilled some orange juice. It ran across the table, spilled onto their pants and shoes, and then went on the floor. They were somewhat embarrassed and immediately went to the bathroom to clean up.

The discussion continued while they were away. And then I observed something very significant. Without being asked, Justice, one of the Eighth Grade boys, quietly got out of his seat, grabbed a handful of napkins, and went to clean up the spill. He wiped the table and then got down on his hands and knees to wipe the floor. When finished, he placed the napkins in the wastebasket and returned to his seat. The conversation in the group never stopped.

I was proud of Justice. It wasn’t his mess, and no one asked him to clean it up. He just did it, because it was the right thing to do. There was a mess, he had the opportunity to help, and he did.

To me, that’s a good sign. Justice, and many others like him, is getting what we want him to learn about service. God’s Word is making a difference in the life of this young man, and it will continue for a long time.

As I admired Justice’s selfless act, I was reminded of Jesus. The mess in this world is not His doing. We made a mess of things by our willful sin. Yet, Jesus came down to earth, to clean up our mess. He knelt on His hands and knees to wash Peter’s feet. He knelt on His hands and knees to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. He allowed his hands and feet to be nailed to a cross, and He died to make up for the mess we created. And His Resurrection is a powerful display of His triumph over this mess, now and forever, once and for all.

Thank you, Justice, for cleaning up the girls’ mess. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for cleaning up our mess.

“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Phil. 2:8