I was thinking today of members of our armed forces.  I wasn't thinking of any soldiers in particular in terms of being somewhere around the world although all our men and women in the service remain in my prayers to come home safely.  I was thinking about the new soldiers who are entering basic training who are gung-ho about being a soldier but don't really know what's going to be coming up in the future.

The reason it was crossing my mind is because of a discussion I had with a friend regarding my steps to get into the battle against human trafficking.  I had contacted several organizations about getting involved and had not heard back from any of them about how I can get involved beyond giving them money.  She was telling me that it was hard for a woman to break into helping the victims of this because of the level of protection that has to be given the victims.  She guessed that it would be doubly hard for a man to do it since the majority of the time it's men who are funding or orchestrating the systematic abuse involved in human trafficking.  Any man who wanted to get involved would have to overcome the sins of the men who came before them...and if he has a past such as mine it's going to be even harder because my porn addiction at one point funded some of the monsters. (Yes, I've accepted the fact that it's possible I may never get to help in the battle beyond giving money because of my past porn addiction.)

Then she asked me a question that never crossed my mind...but it made me wonder how often people need to be asked this question.  She asked me if I would do the grunt work for these organizations even if I never was able to do the "front line" kind of rescue work that's in my heart. 

I didn't miss a beat in saying that I'd have no problem doing the grunt work to help an organization that's aimed at fighting human trafficking. For example, these groups don't get enough funding for their efforts and stuffing envelopes for fundraising letters is a minimal way to give time to help these groups.  However, it's not just human trafficking groups...it could be any group for whom you give time or even your church.  You might be asked to come in and help clean the offices or just go on a coffee run when it's a long night in the office preparing for an event.  You might be asked to take out the trash or make a batch of copies.  Things that are not "glory" jobs by any stretch of the imagination but things that are vital for the operation of the group.

In other words...could you be a good grunt?

I think of the soldiers in the army who are new to the service and doing all the jobs that more seasoned soldiers don't want to do.  If you asked them if they were really enjoying what they were doing...they'd likely say no...but they'd say they knew what they were doing mattered for the ultimate goal.  The lowest ranked private in the service is as vital as a five star general in that if they all didn't do their job the mission would fail. 

Yet how many of us aren't willing to do the little things because we want to do the "glory work"? 

If you asked people who head up non-profit operations what kind of people they want to have working for them I would bet that many of them would want people who are open to serve.  As followers of Christ, we are called to serve.  We are called to do the things that no one else wants to do.  We need to humble ourselves and honestly ask ourselves if we are truly wanting to serve because we feel the love for others through service or if we're only serving to gain attention.

Do you serve because you love others or do you have other motives?