Bright blue binders in hand, new blue skirts and pressed white shirts with shiny new emblems donned a few of my friends and I began climbing the “Stairway to the Stars”. But before we could put our feet on the first step, there were a few things to memorize. So with our right hands raised we quoted the words we would faithfully recite almost every week for the next few years of our lives.
Motto
We Care
Slogan
Because We Care, We Serve
Scripture
“Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians. 6:2
And we sang, “Oh, We are Missionettes for Jesus, we want to live for him each day, because we care we want to share the burdens along the way” There would be tons more memorization, a few burdens to bear and lot of lessons to learn along the way. But we were eager for the climb!
Today, almost 40 years later!
One of the most important things I’ve learned along the way is that those words we learned were more than words to memorize; they are words to live by. Caring about others is at the heart of living for Jesus. In 1 Peter 5, Paul challenges us to care for those who have been entrusted to us, not grudgingly or selfishly, but because we are eager to serve God. Later in the chapter he reminds us that God cares for us. Often in my life God’s care has come in human form. No one showed me this more than my childhood pastor, Walter Helms. I don’t remember many of Bro. Helms’s sermons but I can hear him to this day saying, “God cares”. More importantly I can name numerous times when he showed God’s care to me, my family and many others. Thanks to people like him, it has always been easy for me to believe God cared about me. It was not his words, it was his actions. I pray my actions match my words as clearly as his did!
Sharing our lives with others is such an intricate element of a fulfilling life. The thing about sharing is it involves both giving and taking. Much of my life I was not good at sharing. It was not the sharing of my stuff (except for with my middle brother, perhaps!) or even of my faith that was the problem, it was the sharing of my life. Sharing our lives and carrying each other is an intimate relationship that involves so much more than words and stuff. It’s risky and carrying others can be exhausting. But even more difficult for me has been learning to allow others to carry me. Somewhere along the way I realized I was being selfish in being willing to learn from others problems, but unwilling to share my own. Many of life’s greatest lessons are learned from one another. The awesome thing is, if we share each other’s load, no one is left carrying the weight of their world on their shoulders! Paul shared his load with Timothy, Barnabas, Silas and others who came along his way and offered help. He said of Timothy, I have no one else like him who genuinely cares about your welfare …like a son with his father he has served with me. (Philippians 2:20 and 22 NLT)
Jesus called others to share his mission, often calling three of His disciples close to his side to share special times. Even on His darkest night, he called on his closest friends to share his deepest anxiety. “Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room … and went to the Mount of Olives.” (Luke 22:39 NLT) He told them of his anguish, “my soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me”. (Matthew 26:38 NLT) None of them were perfect and none able to carry him completely. Only his Father, our Father, could ultimately see him through, but he desired the company of his friends. Earlier on the same night, knowing everything He knew about them, He had declared to His Father that He wanted those whom he had been given with Him in Heaven. (John 17:24 NLT) Amazing!
So how is caring and sharing working out in your life? As Paul said of Timothy, do you genuinely care? Like Walter Helms, do your actions say you care? Like Jesus, are you sharing yours and others load.
We often talk about the company we keep, but what about the company we are? Are we eager to serve God by caring for others? Even with those who have and/or will fail us?
I have had the opportunity to share life with many different groups of friends along the way. I would love to hear from any and all of you!
Any of you girls out there who climbed those stairs with me, how are you doing with those things we memorized from Patty and Kay? What’s your favorite memory of those days? One of mine is riding to and from retreats singing crazy songs at the top of lungs. Anyone remember “The cutest boy I ever met” or how ‘bout “Church on top of the hill”?
Thanks for listening. See you next Sunday.
Ronda
This first post on my new blog, Along the Way, is dedicated to the memory of Walter Helms and my dearest childhood friend, Lisa Gail Estep. Lisa not only climbed those stairs with me, she often pushed me to the top. She was a friend who knew what it meant to put others before herself. 
