Today was one of those kind of days for me. It wasn't the first of its kind and I'm sure it won't be the last. And for each time God is all over it.
Several months ago I was asked to be part of a new team, i-Reach. Basically we have had only 4 teams for quite some time at church...Up Reach, Down Reach, In Reach, and Out Reach. Hopefully I won't get this mixed up....Up is for praising, down is for building the foundation, in is for reaching within the church to care for our own, and out is reaching out to the community. i-Reach is about Evangelism. It's about "i" reaching out to bring others to Christ, to show them hospitality, etc.
For a few months before I was approached about it, I had been praying to God to help me see what he needs me to be doing because I had been feeling that he was wanting me to do something, but I had no idea what. When I was asked, I knew that is what God needed from me. I accepted with eagerness, but at the same time remember telling Rev. Becky I had no idea what I was doing or how I would be able to do it when I can't even get some of my own family to church. But I was going to give it my best.
From this has come a few things so far...the first being to start a Bible study group that really focuses on telling our story of God's work in our lives, the next being this blog to do the same thing, and the third planning for our Back to Church event. The committee started meeting back in June and has met every other Monday up until now to plan and prepare for this event.
But it was more than just a committee planning an event, it was a church coming together to bring others in. We had a wonderful couple who originally planned to host and donate the entire meal (we were hoping for about 200 people). Somewhere along the way other food got donated and planned for and that couple from what I was told had very minimal cost involved because so much was out right donated. Talk about a blessing for a committee planning this huge event with a $0 budget, this was certainly it.
The rest of the congregation worked hard to spread the word and invite others to join us today and we filled every table and chair we put out so I'm guessing it worked.
Then there were all the cooks, servers, clean-up crew, donated empty serving dishes, and hosts for each table.
Now to say it went smoothly....well, we certainly had to step it up into high gear at times, but overall I think it all turned out okay.
Actually it was more than okay. A few times a person came up because they didn't have quite enough hash (and we didn't have anymore....we had already put out 15 pounds worth), we thought we ran completely out of chicken and had missed a table, and the rice was low too. When this initially started, I had that brief moment "oh, no. Everyone is going to be talking about the event where there wasn't even enough food to go around." I pushed that thought back down to where it came from and convinced myself that God's got this.
Soon the requests for missing food ended and everyone was eating and seemed to be enjoying the conversation at their tables so I too went to eat.
Then it was time to start cleaning up and that's when God showed his work. It actually reminded me of the story in the Gospels about feeding a large crowd with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. In the end they ended up cleaning up baskets full of all that was left. Well, I'm guessing everyone found what they were lacking at their tables because in the end we sent home several to go plates and filled several gallon size bags with hash, rice, slaw, mac-n-cheese, baked beans, and chicken.
You see, while there was a lot of physical work and time put into this, there was also a lot of prayer and faith in God that this would be a success. But I am still awestruck. I am every time God steps in because he is so amazingly wonderful and I can't help but be awestruck. As an educator, I have always said that the second I think I don't have anything left to learn and that I think I know it all, it will be time for me to quit. Well, with God, I pray that I will always be awestruck by his amazing grace and love and faithfulness to fulfill his promises. Being awestruck reminds me just how big and powerful he is and it is quite humbling to see his work in our lives. I don't want to ever come to a point that I just expect him to amaze me.
Let us pray,
Lord, I thank you for such a wonderful day today and for all those involved. I really had no idea what I was doing, but you knew and you knew exactly who to place where and for that I am thankful. Lord, help me to continue to keep my heart open to what you are calling me to do in your name. Amen.
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