Author: Jaja, on staff in Dallas, Texas. To submit a story or a photo for our Kaleo Missions blog, email blog@kaleomissions.org.

“But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.” (Philippians 2:17-18 NASB)

Ministry and missions is tiring no matter where you are. Oftentimes friends and family may not understand why one gets involved in the “mess” of others’ lives. I’ve been serving in urban missions these past two weeks and a half in Dallas, Texas and I haven’t been this tired for quite some time. But there is joy in serving others and pouring out your time and energy to something that leads to deeper, eternal impact. I’m now officially on my summer break and though these past two weeks leading youth groups, teaching children in Bible clubs, and serving in low-income parts of the city were tiring, they’re a droplet of water in a sea of sacrifice ministry may call for.

Recently in these past two weeks, I saw glimpses of sacrifice at Our Calling, a homeless ministry in Dallas. Yes, I saw sacrifice demonstrated daily through their full-time staff but I also saw sacrifice demonstrated through their clients.

One day, while sorting through clothes donations, we heard a loud scream outside in the pouring summer rain. The rain droplets made it hard to see what was going on but eventually we saw a woman in a wheelchair falling down the ramp toward the oncoming traffic. The slick concrete ground made it difficult for her wheelchair to stop. Pretty soon a man dropped everything he had in his arms to pull the woman up the ramp. His old, worn shoes barely had any traction to pull himself up the ramp.

His new items and belongings he just received from the homeless ministry were left out in the rain, soaking wet.

Who knows how much this man owned? He himself was a recipient of services at Our Calling yet when he saw one woman in need, he immediately dropped everything he had and responded.

Through this short encounter, I saw a glimpse of sacrifice and service. This man dropped his belongings for a stranger.

Every month or so, I receive newsletters from missionaries around the world. Their life sacrifices lead to life for many. They are like the man I encountered at the homeless ministry; they are not serving for recognition or for self-gain. Most are unnamed and unheard of. Tireless hours of sacrifice and service. Why, then, do they continue toiling day after day?

David Livingstone, medical missionary to Africa, declared, “I am a missionary, heart and soul. God had an only Son, and He was a missionary and a physician. I am a poor, poor imitation of Him, or wish to be. In this service I hope to live; in it I wish to die!”

And it is in service for Christ that Livingstone passed away. For missionaries like Livingstone, the need for the Gospel to be spread to the ends of the earth far outweighs any sacrifice made in their lives.

God came on earth to mere strangers-human beings-to give us life. Christ’s one and ultimate sacrifice leads to our life redemption and eternal transformation if we so choose to follow Him. And it is for this Gospel’s sake that millions of missionaries and ministers have and continue to give of themselves and to spend their lives on behalf of the nations and those they so love.

Isn’t this calling for us all as followers of Jesus? Whether it is through prayer, giving of finances, time, or energy, or physically going for the sake of the Gospel, we are all called to pour ourselves out as a “drink offering” for the faiths of others.

May it not just be full-time ministers and missionaries that spend their lives on behalf of others.

“And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:10-11