The following is a chapter in , Vehicles of Hope: Serving Others on the Road to Satisfaction.

BORN TO SERVE

Service is not just something we do

out of the goodness of our hearts or from principle;

it is a deep, archetypal experience of the soul,

for which we have both a need and an instinct.

Thomas Moore, preface to Voices From The Heart

THE JOY OF SERVING

         Though meant humorously, I always feel a twinge of sadness when I see a bumper sticker that proclaims "Born to Shop."  I often fantasize about how life might be if we were moved to declare instead, "Born to Serve!"

         During my teens and early twenties, I was a member of the Church of the Brethren, a denomination stemming from the Anabaptist movement in Europe in the 1500s.  The basic ten­ants of the Brethren are pacifism, individual spiritual responsi­bility, simple living, and service.

         Between my junior and senior years of college, I inter­rupted my schooling to enter Brethren Volunteer Service--a network of service projects around the world originally estab­lished for conscientious objectors to fulfill their military obliga­tion.  After two months of intense introspection and training in a unit of 30 other young people, I was assigned to an inner-city church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  My duties were to survey and visit the neighborhood families, be a liaison between them and the church, and conduct after-school clubs for the neigh­borhood children.  The experience changed my life.

         The church had split over the issue of remaining in the city to minister to the surrounding community instead of relocating to the suburbs.  Those who stayed maintained that "God doesn't relocate," and their actions bore vivid testimony to their con­victions.  Members, including the family I lived with, gave up new homes, cars, vacations, and many special pleasures to give as much as 30% of their incomes to the building of a new edu­cation wing which would be a center for community activities and services.  Housewives worked almost full-time carrying out committee assignments.  Men forfeited their lunch hours and days off to sell bonds, inspect the building, and do some of the construction work themselves.

         The most powerful witness to me, however, was the obvi­ous joy and fulfillment those people received from their ser­vanthood.  I knew then that I could never be content to live my life simply for "me and mine."

         For Larry, the call to serious service came when he re­turned home from Vietnam.  Though always a kind, helpful and generous person with a zest for living, his appreciation for life was deepened by his war experience, and he gained a new purpose and meaning for his existence.  He served on a local school board, took leadership positions in his church, and helped found The Bridge Center in Schenectady, New York, a highly successful residential drug rehabilitation center for young people.

         From our own experiences and subsequent events and observations, we have become convinced that the deepest sat­isfaction in life is derived from serving others.  In fact, I will go even further and say that to live a life centered only on our­selves is failing to recognize that we are all part of the larger body of humanity and leads ultimately to isolation, despair and emptiness.  I believe we were created and born to serve one another.

SERVANTHOOD IS INFECTIOUS

         The word servant calls to mind numerous connotations, many conveying a lowly image with which most of us do not care to identify ourselves; yet Jesus maintained that the highest position in the kingdom of God was that of a servant; and he said to his disciples, ". . . whoever would be greatest among you must be your servant" (Matt. 20:26 RSV).

         When we were members of Windham Presbyterian Church in New Hampshire, Larry and I participated in their first mission trip to work with the Rural Community Action Ministry (RCAM) in northern Maine.  This ongoing program uses volunteer mis­sion teams to repair homes, build handicap ramps, and minis­ter in other concrete ways to the poor, elderly and disabled.  For us, it was an especially rewarding experience because we made a heart connection with the family whose home we worked on and have maintained a mutually supportive connection over the years.

         However, in addition to our personal experience, it was instructive to watch the transformation of the youth from our church who participated.  Most of them had been "dragged" there by their parents.  When the week was over, there wasn't one paint-stained teen who wanted to leave, and their enthusi­asm and compassion were contagious.  It was they who sug­gested the idea of sharing a meal with all the families we had served, a joyous culmination to the week that has become an annual tradition.  The next year, when the mission trip sign-up sheet was posted, the youth were the first to add their names.

         Our second summer on the road, we had the opportunity to join our former church for the 10th annual work trip.  We were amazed to see three there from that first group, now beautiful young women and men embarking on their own lives, and to learn that two of them had participated in every single mission trip over the years!  They all attested to the impact those experiences had in developing their sensitivity to the needs of others and the deep personal satisfaction it had given them.  This story is not an anomaly; we have seen varying versions of it many times.  It is typical of what happens when people of any age become introduced to the infectious joy of serving others.

GIVING AND RECEIVING

         In our sometimes frantic and self-conscious search for happiness, we often place misguided emphasis on getting and accumulating, only to find that no matter how much we store up, our lives continue to feel empty.  That is because in the laws of life, giving and receiving are always linked.  "We are a pro­foundly egocentric culture," says Thomas Moore in the preface to Voices From The Heart.  "Popular psychology recommends a strong sense of self, well-maintained ego boundaries, and wholesome self-esteem--all ego concerns that turn our atten­tion inward and increase anxiety.  The religious and spiritual traditions offer a completely different point of view.  They say that we find our soul only when we lose our highly prized sense of self."

         Giving and receiving should be as natural as breathing in and breathing out--both functions being essential to a healthy life.  An extreme in one direction or the other tilts one's life out of skew.  On the one hand, there are well-meaning do-gooders whose inability to receive results in a relationship of inequality--dispiriting rather than uplifting those they aim to help.  On the other, are people either content to live off the welfare of others or who lavish all of their resources on themselves--both of whom do not understand the adverse effects their failure to contribute has on their own lives.

         It is important to "give back" in order to keep the resources of the universe circulating.  When we give back to life, we quickly discover that life bestows its bounty upon us in numer­ous, unanticipated ways.  Chief among the benefits is a sense of fulfillment that no amount of money can generate.

         So many people expend fruitless time, energy and re­sources trying to find meaning and purpose in their lives, not realizing it can most readily be found by simply reaching out to others.  Consider the dissatisfied millionaires who finally discover this secret and are compelled to give away most of their fortunes to alleviate their feelings of inner bankruptcy, and to experience the joy that had for so long eluded them.

         Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, is a rele­vant example.  A successful businessman, lawyer and self-made millionaire by age 29, he was consumed by a drive to make and accumulate wealth.  But his world was suddenly turned on end when his wife Linda confronted him with the emptiness of their lives, and left him.  Deep soul-searching brought them back together with a renewed commitment to each other and a vow to dedicate themselves to serving God.  Giving away all they had, they retreated to the Christian community at Koinonia Farm near Americus, Georgia, to receive guidance and direction from its co-founder and spiritual leader Clarence Jordan.  It was there that the idea for partnership housing eventually was birthed and implemented.  A few years later, after the death of Clarence, Millard and Linda founded Habitat for Humanity and have guided it into one of the most effective and life-changing world-wide ministries.

MOBILE SERVICE

         As we began traveling, we were quite surprised and pleased to learn that so many RVers are using their freedom and mobility not only for seeing the country, but also for bring­ing hope and a helping hand to others.  They are building homes and churches, helping at disaster sites, working at youth camps and orphanages and involving themselves in numerous ways in communities where they spend a period of time.  RVers are in a unique position to render service.  Their flexible schedules allow them to respond quickly if need be and give them the option to stay somewhere for an extended time.  Housing is not an issue, because their homes are with them.

         We also discovered that there are a number of service groups specifically tailored for RVers.  In general, they are structured to give participants a choice of short-term work projects throughout the country year round.  Most schedule a four-day work week, 6-7 hours a day, which allows ample time and energy for fellowship and sight-seeing.

         However, as new RVers, we wanted to maintain our freedom to respond to a variety of opportunities.  When we met Eugene and Nancy Martin, who had been full-timing about as long as we had, we were intrigued by the way they combined working with organi­zations and finding avenues of service on their own.

         The Martins often choose an area they want to visit, then approach a local church to exchange service for a place to park.  My ears especially perked up when they mentioned making their own connections to help after a tornado hit Winter Garden, Florida.  As it turned out, we adopted a mode of operation very similar to theirs.  It complemented our desire to remain open and available to Spirit's leading, rather than pre­determining where we would go and what we would do.

WE ARE FAMILY

         Some of our friends expressed concern that as full-time RVers we would miss being part of a supportive and caring community.  However, we did not find that to be the case at all.  If anything, RVing broadened our sense of community.  Just as there are everyday opportunities in neighborhoods or at work to help others, so there are many occasions on a daily basis to be sensitive and minister to "our neighbors" in campgrounds.  They can be as diverse as helping make repairs on a rig, taking someone to the hospital, caring for the campground cats, or sharing a meal with a person traveling alone.

         Perhaps because of the transitory nature of the lifestyle, RVers learn to make instant connections.  They often go out of their way for strangers to a degree one might ordinarily only expect from family or close friends.  There are very few RVers who will look the other way when someone needs help.  In fact, the motto of our Thousand Trails & NACO campground system is "We Are Family," and the standard greeting between the 55,000 members of the Escapees RV club is a warm hug. What a different world this might be if we all treated each other as family and greeted each other with hugs!