Saturday, March 23rd was a cold, wet, windy morning. One of those mornings that is hard to get out of bed, let of lone the house. But on this day, it was God’s Appalachian Partnership’s annual community Easter egg hunt which meant it was an early morning for not only us but many volunteers. We had 38 volunteers drive three hours that morning to help with the ministry event plus 27 volunteers from GA, MO, and local churches. Between the cold and the wind, it was difficult to get excited about the event and I began to wonder if anyone would even show up on such a day.
It stopped raining that morning just in time to start pulling things off the trailer and setting up for the day. The busyness of setup kept me energized but I knew that I needed to pull away and spend a few moments in prayer asking God to focus my heart and attitude. However, being pulled here and there and hearing my name yelled from different directions kept me from taking the necessary time to redirect my heart. Before I knew it, we were an hour into the event, and I found myself standing alone shivering trying to stay warm.
I looked around the park and the attendance was much less than in previous years which I later found out we had 187 in attendance plus volunteers. Honestly, it was much more than I anticipated with the weather that day. I stood at the Truth Pavilion and watched as two boys used their special decoder glasses to discover the truth of Easter, Jesus is Alive! I heard the volunteer ask the boys, “Do you know who Jesus is?” Their blank stares revealed their answer before they said, “no.” Then they were asked, “Do you know who God is?” Their expression changed and they immediately responded, “yes”. The volunteer went on to explain who Jesus is, why we celebrate Easter, and the Gospel.
As I stood there, speechless, observing these 11 year-old and 9 year-old brothers, my heart broke for them. I know their grandma has been to GAP several times and we have shared the Gospel with her. I just could not help but think was this the first time these boys was ever hearing of Jesus? Maybe or maybe not, but even if they had heard of Jesus before they had forgotten who He was. God has used this event, on one of the most uncomfortable days, to remind me not only why God’s Appalachian Partnership is here but why I am here. We are here because people need to know Jesus! And yes, there are people right here in eastern Kentucky that have never heard of Him. Will you partner with us in meeting people at their point of need so they may know Jesus? “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38).