Serving a glass of water

A "key" ministry: “Would you like to have a cup of coffee?” 

~ 15/4/2013 ~

“I have always thought that serving a glass of water is a simple and non-complicated thing. But now I realised it has a much deeper meaning. God has given me a totally new perspective on what this means.” Pastor C commented. 

Pastor C is here in Iwate with a team of 12 volunteers from Hong Kong. He testified after witnessing the ministry of a fellow Hong Kong pastor (Pastor L) in Iwate. Pastor L is a gifted preacher back home in Hong Kong. Pastor C has always expected that God will make full use of Pastor L’s gift in preaching. But this is not so as Pastor L has very few chances to preach as he serves in Iwate. His main ministry is to visit the locals in temporary housing areas, serve them coffee and have casual talks with them. But Pastor L has continued to serve faithfully as he felt such burden for the people here. This is how he connects to the locals.

Pastor C’s testimony is a great encouragement to me as I looked back at what I have been doing for the past 2 weeks. It was exactly that, serving the locals with coffee after coffee. Although I was able to talk to the people after serving them coffee, most of the time, it was quite impossible to bring the conversation to a deeper level. Most of them are not ready to talk on spiritual matters. Many times I asked God is that all we can do here, just serving them a drink and have a casual chat. And God answered my question that morning through Pastor C’s testimony. Serving a glass of water is not as simple as it is and it is a “key” to unlock the door to the “closed” hearts.