Last week I had a great time serving with students for two days in Detroit as a part of Life Remodeled.  It was great because God used our small efforts to make a big impact.

On our first day, our job was simply to pick up trash and clean the sidewalk on W. Euclid St.  We were there for about four hours and filled about a dozen large trash bags– even though we only cleaned about a hundred feet of sidewalk.

But it was great because during that day three things happened:

1.       We saw God open the door to the Gospel

Ashley brought a friend Reanna. And while we were talking and picking up trash Reanna announced she was not a Christian. It turned out that Reanna had never heard about who Jesus is or what He has done.  Later that day I had an opportunity to share the Gospel with Reanna, and afterwards she said that when she got home that night she would pray to ask Jesus into her life.

2.       We saw God at work in the community

As we were picking up trash, a few people who were driving by stopped and asked what we were doing. We told them we were joining with other churches and volunteers to serve and bless Detroit. Every person who we talked with was thrilled to hear this. Most of them couldn’t believe we were just volunteers who wanted to help.

3.       We saw people inspired to join in

Some of the people who asked what we were doing were so thrilled about it, that they too wanted to get involved. We then pointed them in the direction of the registration tent, and told them how they could sign up. It was so cool to see people in the community inspired to serve by a handful of trash-picking high school students.

God used our meager efforts of picking up trash on a hundred feet of sidewalk to share the gospel, bless a community, and inspire others to join in.

For me it was a great reminder that when it comes to serving God—it’s often not about the sidewalk.