Do you ever come across a person who just inspires you?  Today, there are two people on my mind that have inspired me to trust and surrender to God.  I will share one of them with you today and another with you tomorrow. 

The first is my friend, David.  David and I met just over a year ago in our JustFaith group at the Catholic Center.  JustFaith is “30-week process that empowers participants to develop a passion and thirst for justice, and prepares them for the work of social ministry.”  At the beginning of our journey, David was rather quiet and spent most of our meetings observing.  One night in January, he briefly mentioned that he had lost his job.  While he was frustrated and scared, we all witnessed a complete change in David during the second half of our thirty week journey.  He became more vocal as the JustFaith material impacted him more and more.  He emerged as a leader in our group because he took the material we were discussing and put it into action. 

While he was relentlessly searching for a job, he decided to not waste the free time he suddenly had.  Instead of wallowing in self-pity over the loss of his job, David got involved in some pretty incredible organizations.  He became a volunteer at The Stable Foundation in Athens, an organization that is committed to eliminating homelessness in the area.  He became a volunteer with CASA.  “CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children, to make sure they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system or languish in an inappropriate group or foster home.”     Finally (as if he had not already done enough), he began the Georgia Conflict Center, which is currently operated out of a desk in the music room at the Catholic Center. 

A few months after losing his job, his wife also lost her job.  Did David worry about making ends meet, of course?  He took on odd jobs with family and friends, and he took on a few hours of weekly maintenance work at our church.    Watching David during this period was inspiring!  I watched as he continually turned to God in prayer asking God to help provide for his family and asking God to provide a stable job for both him and his wife.  David continually surrendered.  He trusted that God would provide.  More importantly, he was open to hear what God asked of him.  So often in these last few months, he would tell me that he knew he was on the right path and he knew God would take care of them even though things were getting pretty tight. 

David is on my heart today because as of yesterday he began a new job.  A job that is so far away from his original field.  A job that he would have never dreamed of if he had not joined our JustFaith group.  His work now is helping the less fortunate get their social security benefits.  He still is a volunteer with The Stable Foundation.  He still is a volunteer with CASA.  He is our new youth minister.  He works with our college student group also. 

David epitomizes for me what it means to surrender to God’s will!

What areas of our life are we called to surrender to God today?