By Jenny Davis, serving with Kaleo, InFaith’s
short-term missions program for groups

One of our challenges to each student on a Kaleo trip this summer was to listen, to introduce themselves to people in the city where they were serving, and to listen prayerfully. As Pastor Tim Keller said, “The city is home to more image-of-God per square foot than anywhere else.”

When our students stopped to sincerely listen to the men, women, and children they met in the city, an amazing thing happened: conversations started. Both sides shared their stories about addictions to drugs, alcohol, pornography; broken homes; despair; and rejection. Both sides shared stories about God’s transforming, life-giving power and the hope and new life to be found in Christ.

In Galatians 3 we read that through Christ, the barriers that divide us are removed. We are all children of God, through faith. Whether male or female, and whatever our life circumstances, we are all heirs of the same promises of God. But until we slow down to truly listen to one another, we can’t experience the joy of connecting with other people who are made in God’s image and who are also in the process of being built up by the Lord’s tender hand.

As we rush around each day, sometimes the hardest thing is to take time to listen, and to engage in a meaningful conversation with those around you. Especially those who are different from you. Our Kaleo students this summer experienced God’s work in their lives through conversations, and we love hearing the ongoing stories of how God is using His story to transform our stories.