Neither I nor my brothers
nor the men nor the guards with me
took off our clothes;
each had his weapon, even when he went for water.
I never demanded the food allotted to the governor,
because the demands were heavy on these people.
Nehemiah 4:23, 5:18
This passage reminds me of what Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica:
We were not trying to please people,
but God, who tests our hearts.
We were not looking for praise from people,
not from you or anyone else,
even though as apostles of Christ
we could have asserted our authority.
Surely you remember, brothers and sisters,
our toil and hardship; we worked night and day
in order not to be a burden to anyone
while we preached the gospel of God to you.
I Thessalonians 2:4, 6, 9
One of the things I admire so much about the ministry staff at Crossroads and our Crossroads Leadership Council members is that each and every one of them is a servant, willing to do whatever needs to be done! And what is even more amazing to me are the hundreds of you who volunteer at Crossroads, giving hours and hours of your time and energy.
Thank you for all you do. I pray for each of you every other week as I pray through our church directory. Please pray for me and the other leaders of Crossroads, that we don’t become selfish or lazy, but that we lead the way in serving Jesus and his cause!
