Part of serving is listening, knowing and playing an active role in the lives of those around us.  Fredrick Buechner says it better …

“In the long run the stories all overlap and mingle like searchlights in the dark.  The stories Jesus tells are part of the story Jesus is, and the other way round.  And the story Jesus is is part of the story you and I are because Jesus has become so much a part of the world’s story that it is impossible to imagine how any of our stories would have turned out without him, even the stories of people who don’t believe in him or even know who he is or care about knowing.  And my story and your story are all part of each other too if only because we have sung together and prayed together and seen each other’s faces so that we are at least a footnote at the bottom of each other’s stories.  In other words all our stories are in the end one story, one vast story about being human, being together, being here.”

CJ Strange is the Appalachia Field Director for Crossroads Missions, a short-term missions organization that combines the biblical principles of worship, service and discipleship by being a doorway for churches and individuals seeking ministry opportunities in places they may otherwise have difficulty serving.