Charlie Lichauer Religion 10-9 May 7, 2018

The quote, "Being of service to others is what brings true happiness" applies to the

service that has been done by me for others. For my service work, I decided to help the children

at Saint Peters Parish grow closer to God through Vacation Bible School. Through my

experience, I have learned some new things that I didn’t know before. While I was at Vacation

Bible School, I had the pleasure of helping the director of the program, Mrs. Pat, haul all the

necessary equipment to get the bible school ready to go.

In addition to helping Mrs. Pat haul stuff up and down the stairs, I was assisting the

children complete some of the projects. We did arts and crafts, such as making a prayer box and

helping them write a letter to their parents thanking them for helping them grow in their faith.

This part of the service especially helped me grow closer to God, because I had realized that

these children are the future of our church, and in order for our faith to be universal, we need to

educate the younger children that are lacking in the knowledge of our faith. Realizing that this

was the future of my faith, I was doing my best to teach them all of the cool things that I knew

about Jesus.

It was very interesting that these children wanted to learn so much about God and his

relationship with his son, Jesus. They found it very interesting that there were three persons in

one God, not three separate people. I felt accomplished that I could teach people about the faith

that I had studied for the past 15 years of my life. I love doing Vacation Bible School every year

and teaching them more and more about their faith than they ever did before. It is always

interesting to see the many different families that come and drop their children off year after

year. There are children at Vacation Bible school that are three and there are some that are eight,

but they still love to have the fun experiences that are included in Bible School. My job there at

Vacation Bible school was to make sure that the children there were having as much fun as
possible. At the end of Bible school, we had a big water balloon fight and it was very fun. It was

our way of finishing off the week with a blast.

I believe that it is essential for us as Christians to perform charitable services because it

could help someone out of the tough times that they are in. If the person that is receiving the

charitable act is hardened towards God, then if one of us Christians shows that everything is not

bad in the world, they might find a little bit more happiness. That is what I believe our goal is as

children of God, to make others happier than we ourselves are. That is what Christ would want

us to do. That is what he did for us. He suffered so that we could all just be happier in our day-to-

day lives. He had inspired so many people and turned them to Christianity. He made the ultimate

sacrifice. All that service is about is helping the less fortunate. Weather that be lacking in faith or

lacking in wealth, it makes a difference to do one kind gesture. It may not seem like a lot to us,

but what doesn’t seem like a lot to us could mean the world to another person.

Reflecting upon the Bible passage, Matthew 25:31-46, the story of the sheep and the

goats, if you perform charitable service then you have done a major part of God's will. When you

do these little acts that may seem very small, you will always be progressing to God's plan. God

separates the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25:31-46 and the ones he puts on his right hand,

have done service to others, and the ones on his left have been hardened to him and cursed.

Those that have done service to their brothers and sisters have done the service to God himself.

After reading the passage, I realize that through our day to day actions, we encounter God

through other people. If that is what it takes to become closer to God, I will be happy to do it. If

you really think about it, it is not that large of a task to commit an hour or two of service every

week or so, or just do some impromptu actions. I encourage that everyone tries to at least do a

couple hours of service. It will make you feel a whole lot better about yourself and it will make
you feel more accomplished about what you have done. Whenever you see an opportunity to

help a person out, you should go after that opportunity.

I performed the service that I did because I saw an opportunity and I took it. I enjoy

doing Vacation Bible school and it also gives the children that attend it an opportunity to go

more in depth in their faith. Every time that my mom says she wants me to go to the food bank

with her or help the residents of Our Little Sisters of the Poor, I am glad to accept and remember

that it is a part of God's plan. The 25 hours that I completed felt more like 2 or 3. It is always a

blast to do this bible school and help the children. Every year, we get new personalities in

Vacation Bible School and I am always excited to help them learn about God and what he has

done to help us in our faith.

Overall, the service that I performed for these service hours was not something that I was

forced to do. It was something that I wanted to do. I wanted my service to be meaningful and I

wanted it to deal with my faith. Upon reflecting on the bible passage, I realize that doing these

services is not only for other people, but it is for God himself. These services that we do help us

grow closer to God in our day-to-day life. Whenever you see the opportunity to help others,

chase that opportunity. Every time that you do service, you are doing that action directly to God.

If you do not take a little bit of time out of your life to help others, then you are basically doing

nothing to help God the father. These charitable actions should not be forced upon you, they

should be a choice to do. If it is God's plan for you to do service, then you will do service,

nobody is making you do it. I believe that service should not just be trying to get those 20

required hours and be more about doing what you can to help others out. That is what God would

want.