The Power of Showing Up

By William Jones

We had made the call: no in-person church this Sunday. All the streets around our building in downtown London, Ontario, were going to be blocked off for the CIBC Run for the Cure, with absolutely no access during our worship time.

On the Thursday before, I was driving home from the church when I felt this quiet nudge from God. Serve me through your presence.

I got home and told my wife, and we both felt the same thing—don’t cancel serving, just because we had to cancel our service. So, we made a plan to get to the church early before the roads closed, set up a table out front, and offer coffee, tea, water, and juice to whoever passed by. My wife, our six-week-old son, and I hauled in early, set up the table, and waited.

Shortly after we had set up, a couple of congregants who lived within walking distance wandered over—turns out they missed the email about church being online that week. When they heard what we were doing, they stayed. Eventually, the runners started flowing past the church. They slowed down, saw the table, and jogged over.

“Are these for us?”
Absolutely!

Person after person grabbed a drink, and so many were genuinely surprised that a church would care about them during a race. In those quick moments – between sips of water and catching their breath – we heard real stories: people running for a loved one with cancer or in memory of someone who had passed away years before. Some hadn’t been to church in ages, but a free drink opened the door to connection.

I realized something that day. What I thought was an interruption to our plans was actually an opportunity to love and serve people in a different way. Sometimes the biggest impact isn’t something big you do – it’s just showing up where God places you. It might just mean being intentionally present at school, on the sports field, on the bus, or on the sidewalk outside your house! Where might God be inviting you to serve simply by being present?