Go Volunteer

In a world where there is so much need, sometimes writing a cheque when someone needs help just isn’t enough.

 Our children spent their formative years with a movement called Young Life. As teenagers, they were greatly impacted by the YL Ministry. One of the coolest things they got to do was go to camp, and one of the amazing camps is called Rockridge in Princeton, BC. They need volunteers all the time, especially post-COVID, how the economy is going. They don’t have the funds to pay the staff that they ideally would like to, and we were given this opportunity to come up here and serve as volunteers.

What an opportunity! I was literally scrubbing dishes for two hours last night. It was kind of fun! It was hard work but much-needed work. But, you know, there’s a flip side to volunteering, and the flip side to me volunteering is this: I get to experience British Columbia in all of its finest.

 We’re at a family camp, and the guests will be coming by lunchtime. Everything’s getting set up and organised. The main lodge is where everybody eats, and there is another building called The Rock, where they have community teaching, worship, and stuff.

 It’s such a different place for me to be, instead of running a business, coaching clients all over the world, building websites, and writing strategies, to literally getting soaked and scrubbing food off plates, and I loved it. It’s such a paradigm shift to serve in such a way, but, you know, I serve my clients every day. You probably serve your family and your clients, your customers every day, and at the end of the day, it’s all about attitude.

It’s not about hierarchy. It’s not about, you know, how much you make out of it. It’s really about how much you can give back, because we’ve been so blessed in our world. I mean, we have certainly here I am in Canada. You know, crystal clear lakes, trees in abundance, beautiful weather and wildlife.

 But we’re so blessed to live in this country. The freedom that we get to enjoy nature is free, right? It’s free. We can enjoy that.

 So you can’t just take it all and not give back. It’s certainly not in my DNA to do that. And as much as we need rest and restore, sometimes we just need to regroup and give. So on Saturday morning, as I was filming this, I couldn’t help but get out my phone and share a moment with you. And the next 3, 4 days, I’m going be working really hard with a bunch of people I don’t know yet, but I’ll get to know.

 But it’s such a good thing to be able to give thanks to the people that, you know, looked after my kids when they came to this camp and whoever was serving there, nameless people that just make these things happen. And, you know, that’s what life is really about, it is making stuff happen on behalf of others to make their life better.

Whether you get paid or whether you volunteer, it’s the same principle. Just give from your heart, give back to what you’ve been given. There is a scripture that says, you know, when you do that, you get back a double portion, overloaded, stamped down, pressed. You don’t give to get. You just give because it’s the right thing to do. But so often in life, you do get. I get to stay here. I mean, look at it.  Does it get any better? No.

 So I encourage you this summer, if you get a chance to go serve or give, or volunteer, don’t just write the cheque. Put some sweat and tears into it and, enjoy the gift of giving back.