A drive for life?

On my way to church this morning, I saw one of the buses used by local churches in picking up children for Sunday School. The churches target low-income neighborhoods where families might not have time or transportation for getting their children to church.

Some years ago, I worked with several local children who very much enjoyed attending one such church, so on a couple of Sundays, I rode with them on their bus. I got into a conversation with one of the bus drivers, a man who had been doing this work for many years, Sunday after Sunday. His volunteer time began around 7 a.m. each Sunday morning, as drivers would gather for prayer before leaving for their routes. He often would not make it back home until 2 or 2:30 that afternoon.

I marveled at the devotion he and the other drivers (they had about 25 buses) had for their work, especially given that about one Saturday a month was reserved to travel each route, visit with the children who normally ride, and recruit others to join. Some would say, “Well, that’s a hallmark of evangelicals/fundamentalists. Their drive to save souls borders on the fanatical, and we (liberals) just aren’t like that.”

Granted, I’m not fanatical about the kind of evangelism these folks do. It is primarily born out of the belief that the world will soon end and that they must do everything they can to save souls for Jesus. I do, however, wish that liberals could catch some of the fire these folks have for giving of their time and energy. After all, they may be focused on heaven, but we should be focused on doing God’s will “on earth, as it is in heaven.”

There is a lot of work to be done in the here and now to alleviate pain and suffering, to give human faces to God’s love for the world. Instead, I find that so many liberals like to think about the needs of the world, but aren’t all that interested in getting their hands dirty. We could use a little bit of that evangelical fire for doing God’s work.