Move and Witness : Stewart J. Kong
In the second week of March, my life was shaken up by the passing of my mom and the start of the Covid-19 quarantines. Still feeling numb from the funeral, I returned from Florida, finding everyone wearing face masks, staying home, and not working. This was seemingly too much for me to handle as I felt a growing sense of emptiness and hopelessness. I had no health insurance, mortgage payments were late, and bills were not getting paid. I became lazy while staying at home, killing time for many weeks. Even though I hated this, the laziness was still pulling me down. Soon, I was sleeping and waking up at the wrong times. It seemed like the enemy was doing well until I heard a voice tell me, “Keep moving, and I’ll show you things that will help you deal with your sin.” In short, God did just that.
The biggest thing God showed me was His church- especially the people with whom I worship, pray, and commune in fellowship. I always found that co-laboring with like-minded church members strengthened and motivated me to seek and find God all the time. As I began to serve in the Covid-19 response ministry, I witnessed our church respond in a manner that overwhelmingly replaced my sense of emptiness with renewed hope for the future. I saw church people responding to this call with positive and sincere attitudes and loving hearts – an encouraging sight for sure!
I was blessed with the opportunity to do the weekly food shopping, see the boxes assembled and packed, as well as deliver them on Sundays to over 50 families in Queens. I witnessed an extraordinary amount of care and love going into every detail of weekly box preparations. Every family receives a box containing a beautifully handwritten encouragement letter, Bible, frozen fish, rice, pasta, beans, bananas, tomato, onion, avocado, orange, lime, chipotle sauce, sweet potato, powdered yam, frozen chicken drumstick, 12 eggs, and toilet paper. Each of these items are handpicked with care and purchased in bulk every week, and then delivered to dedicated refrigerators in a mission home in Queens. In so doing this, I witnessed the same volunteers from Grace Church every week, faithfully working with Simplicity staff assembling and packing boxes. I would then see the same 5 drivers every week carefully loading boxes with particularity into their cars before driving. Amazingly, God answered response team prayers poured over the receiving families through the fruition of full-time jobs for at least 2 of the recipients. Equally amazing, through fundraising in just a few days so far, we were able to fund the ministry for at least another month. Total praise to God!
What about the future? Through what God revealed and showed me during the past 3 months, I appreciate even more that we will always be among the poor, orphans, widows and those who are otherwise lost. I believe that we must do whatever we can to experience the fullness of God through following Christ and sharing with those in need– not just during a world crisis but all the time. Although this pandemic emphasized the bad in me, God awakened me and continues to mold me in goodness. After all, God hasn’t changed. He is perfect. He is love. He is good. All the time!
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” — Romans 12:9-11,13