This is an account of my efforts to put into action what I learn while reading the Bible, an account of my journey to become closer to God.
First of all, please notice the cover designs of my two new books which will be available in early 2010. Originally titled My Daughter, My Heart and My Son, My Heart, these books have been on my mind for at least three years. I’m so glad to see them finally come to life! Thank you Sourcebooks!
Now on to other things…
A few nights ago the men’s group I’m in decided to go off the church grounds to hold our meeting. For some reason we ended up in a sports bar overcrowded with Monday night wannabe warriors, all cheering for either New Orleans or the Falcons. We must have been a sight, five guys encircling beer and hot wings, our heads bowed as we prayed. Who knows who watched us and how long he thought about it afterwards? Or what impact we might have had on observers as we talking about God while in the midst of all that debauchery? God knows…
Similarly, I meet a friend for our weekly breakfast at a NY deli yesterday morning. We always begin and end out time together in prayer. Yesterday as we talked I overheard a conversation at a nearby table – two men also talking about God. So again I wonder what people think as they see men in public with their heads bowed in prayer? But I wonder only because I’m curious, not because I’m concerned.
You see, I’m no longer embarrassed about expressing my faith in public (oh how foolish I once was). In fact, I love the moments when someone could rightly point to me and exclaim, “Look, a Christian!” Yes, I am!
I have a question for you. OK, several questions. In my men’s group we’ve challenged each other to ask tough questions about the scripture to stir us into deeper study of the Word. Here’s what I asked:
What happens when we die? Does the body and spirit of all lie in the grave until Jesus returns, or do Believers' spirits go to Heaven at the time of death? What is the purpose of the time of Judgment if deceased Christians are already in Heaven? Do people who are alive at the time of Judgment die before going to Heaven or do they ascend? Do non-Christians' spirits go null and void or literally go to Hell? When, at death or at Judgment?
If you have thoughts on this topic, please share.
Well, I guess that’s enough for today. Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and please pray for me and my family. Now go out and hug somebody!
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Monday, November 02, 2009
Two heads are better than one
This is an account of my efforts to put into action what I learn while reading the Bible, an account of my journey to become closer to God.
I’ve made it to Ezekiel in my Bible reading. I’m beginning to doubt that I’ll finish the Bible by the end of the year, but what matters most is that I finish it, not the timeline. Life has been much busier in the last three months than it has been all year, so my reading time has been compromised. The good news, though, is that my service time has increased!
We recently had the second meeting of our neighborhood congregation and it’s really going well. Not only do we enjoy the two hours we spend together, we tend to run long and we talk theology most of the time. Sure, we have a few differences of opinions, but for me at least the debates help me to better understand my own understanding of the Scripture. Funny thing, these conversations are spilling out of the formal meetings and into our social events, too. Jill and I attended two parties this weekend (I love Sweet Bottom Plantation!) and had God conversations over beer at both of them.
Speaking of parties, one was a Halloween event and Jill and I attended as conjoined twins. We both managed to fit into a 4x long-sleeved shirt. You should have seen us waddle around, four legs, two arms and two heads!
In the devotion I lead two weeks ago I used this verse (Isaiah 55:7-9): "Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
I used the verse to help address the question, “Can we know God’s will?” In the end I left the question unanswered, but reassured the group with this final quote I found somewhere: “The will of God will never take you to where the grace of God will not protect you.”
Here’s an excerpt from a new article I wrote for the church blog about a program serving homeless women:
“The Reverend Nancy Yancey, CEO, opened the ceremony and told us Rainbow Village was ‘a place of transformation where God’s love, mercy and grace abound.’ Lynnette Ward, Adult Program Director, followed and told us of her own tenure as a resident of Rainbow Village before taking her first position with the organization. Recalling the woman who served as her mentor before her own graduation, Lynnette had asked her, ‘What can I do to repay you for your kindness?’
‘You can do for another,’ the mentor had answered back then. Lynnette turned to the anxious graduates. ‘And that’s what I urge you ladies to do,’ she said, ‘to do for others. Because what we go through is not for us, but for someone else.’
Each graduate in her turn stood before the crowd and told her story. Stories of domestic violence, eventual homelessness and poverty, moving children from hotel to hotel, fighting back hunger and the temptation to return to an abusive spouse just to have a roof overhead. Stories that all wove their way to a confession of helplessness and hopelessness, until they found Rainbow Village. And while at Rainbow Village, they found hope, self-respect, new skills, and most importantly, the power of God. One graduate ended her story telling us that while at Rainbow Village she finally learned to “love who God has made me to be.”
A young man, probably a high school senior, was given a chance to speak. He told of a time when he lived in his mother’s car or dingy hotels. In the sixth grade at the time he and his mother moved into Rainbow Village, he said he had never finished a school term in the same school where he had begun that year. Being homeless meant constantly moving from temporary shelter to temporary shelter. It also meant having no permanent friends.
He paused for a moment and looked to his mother who was sitting in the audience. ‘I came to Rainbow Village when I was twelve years old,’ he said. ‘And for the first time in my life I attended the same school all year long. I made friends, I had stability. And I watched my mother change, and I became so proud of her.’
When he finished he took a seat behind his mom, Sondra Blue, a graduate of Rainbow Village and now its Children and Youth Program Director. She looked over her shoulder at her son, smiled broadly, and then reached to gently cup his face in her hand.
I looked down at my program to hide my tears, and my eyes came to rest on a phrase describing Rainbow Village’s mission: Breaking the Cycles of Homelessness, Poverty and Domestic Violence.
After what I saw that evening, I had no doubt that Rainbow Village is excelling at doing God’s work.”
Don’t you just love that line, “What we go through is not for us, but for someone else”? Those wise words are in my memory bank forever.
Well, I guess that’s enough for today. Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and please pray for me and my family. Now go out and hug somebody!
I’ve made it to Ezekiel in my Bible reading. I’m beginning to doubt that I’ll finish the Bible by the end of the year, but what matters most is that I finish it, not the timeline. Life has been much busier in the last three months than it has been all year, so my reading time has been compromised. The good news, though, is that my service time has increased!
We recently had the second meeting of our neighborhood congregation and it’s really going well. Not only do we enjoy the two hours we spend together, we tend to run long and we talk theology most of the time. Sure, we have a few differences of opinions, but for me at least the debates help me to better understand my own understanding of the Scripture. Funny thing, these conversations are spilling out of the formal meetings and into our social events, too. Jill and I attended two parties this weekend (I love Sweet Bottom Plantation!) and had God conversations over beer at both of them.
Speaking of parties, one was a Halloween event and Jill and I attended as conjoined twins. We both managed to fit into a 4x long-sleeved shirt. You should have seen us waddle around, four legs, two arms and two heads!
In the devotion I lead two weeks ago I used this verse (Isaiah 55:7-9): "Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
I used the verse to help address the question, “Can we know God’s will?” In the end I left the question unanswered, but reassured the group with this final quote I found somewhere: “The will of God will never take you to where the grace of God will not protect you.”
Here’s an excerpt from a new article I wrote for the church blog about a program serving homeless women:
“The Reverend Nancy Yancey, CEO, opened the ceremony and told us Rainbow Village was ‘a place of transformation where God’s love, mercy and grace abound.’ Lynnette Ward, Adult Program Director, followed and told us of her own tenure as a resident of Rainbow Village before taking her first position with the organization. Recalling the woman who served as her mentor before her own graduation, Lynnette had asked her, ‘What can I do to repay you for your kindness?’
‘You can do for another,’ the mentor had answered back then. Lynnette turned to the anxious graduates. ‘And that’s what I urge you ladies to do,’ she said, ‘to do for others. Because what we go through is not for us, but for someone else.’
Each graduate in her turn stood before the crowd and told her story. Stories of domestic violence, eventual homelessness and poverty, moving children from hotel to hotel, fighting back hunger and the temptation to return to an abusive spouse just to have a roof overhead. Stories that all wove their way to a confession of helplessness and hopelessness, until they found Rainbow Village. And while at Rainbow Village, they found hope, self-respect, new skills, and most importantly, the power of God. One graduate ended her story telling us that while at Rainbow Village she finally learned to “love who God has made me to be.”
A young man, probably a high school senior, was given a chance to speak. He told of a time when he lived in his mother’s car or dingy hotels. In the sixth grade at the time he and his mother moved into Rainbow Village, he said he had never finished a school term in the same school where he had begun that year. Being homeless meant constantly moving from temporary shelter to temporary shelter. It also meant having no permanent friends.
He paused for a moment and looked to his mother who was sitting in the audience. ‘I came to Rainbow Village when I was twelve years old,’ he said. ‘And for the first time in my life I attended the same school all year long. I made friends, I had stability. And I watched my mother change, and I became so proud of her.’
When he finished he took a seat behind his mom, Sondra Blue, a graduate of Rainbow Village and now its Children and Youth Program Director. She looked over her shoulder at her son, smiled broadly, and then reached to gently cup his face in her hand.
I looked down at my program to hide my tears, and my eyes came to rest on a phrase describing Rainbow Village’s mission: Breaking the Cycles of Homelessness, Poverty and Domestic Violence.
After what I saw that evening, I had no doubt that Rainbow Village is excelling at doing God’s work.”
Don’t you just love that line, “What we go through is not for us, but for someone else”? Those wise words are in my memory bank forever.
Well, I guess that’s enough for today. Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and please pray for me and my family. Now go out and hug somebody!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
More Details
This is an account of my efforts to put into action what I learn while reading the Bible, an account of my journey to become closer to God.
I want to share this email I received a few days ago:
“My wife and I were in the process of recycling books for our two and four year old and we came across your book, Why I Chose You. We both acknowledged the power of the pictures and quotes and how the book helped us through some rough times during their adoption processes. Both of our children were victims of poor pre-natal care before we adopted them.
Our youngest child also suffered from his mother’s drug abuse. We did not become aware of his mothers drug use until the morning we were called to go pick up the two day old child.
We were given the opportunity to back out of the adoption, but thankfully we didn't. I remember sitting in the family room as my wife was on the phone relaying our news to the pediatrician. I looked down to the coffee table only to find your book. I didn't even have to pick it up and a tear came to my eye, remembering some of the quotes, knowing we needed to bring this little infant home no matter what the consequences would be. My wife agreed and we picked him up just a few hours later.
I'm happy to say that today was his six month appointment and he is a very happy and healthy little fellow.
I just wanted to thank you for writing this book. In the beginning we felt isolated and rejected by people not understanding why we were parenting children of another race, but we always came back to the book for comfort. Lately, within the last year or so, we have seen more mixed race families than ever before. We like to believe your book may have had something to do with that.”
I love such mail. In the past I accepted it as evidence of my writing and storytelling skills. Today I readily accept it as evidence that God is doing His work through me. I rather like my new perspective. What better work is there than the good word of the Lord?
On a related note, a brief story: I know someone who knows someone who knows someone else who knows yet someone else. We’ve crossed paths in a random, disconnected fashion over the last year, never having reason to say anything more than hello to one another while passing in the proverbial hallway. But one day a “chance remark” resulted in a cascade of events that may (too soon to tell but why doubt the providence of God) result in a little boy being adopted and thus rescued from a really bad situation. I also received this email the other day:
“Thanks for letting us know about XXX. I was just reading in Acts this morning how ‘he determines the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:26-28).’
It is such a huge encouragement to me to know that in this crazy, mixed up world God is intricately involved in placing us just where we should be so that we will seek Him. May this precious little boy seek Him and find Him and walk with Him all the days of his life.”
So you see, as Paul Young said to a crowd of people last week when he shared his story of a thread woven between a number of lives during a fifty-plus year span, “God is in the details.” Indeed He is!
Well, I guess that’s enough for today. Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and please pray for me and my family. Now go out and hug somebody!
I want to share this email I received a few days ago:
“My wife and I were in the process of recycling books for our two and four year old and we came across your book, Why I Chose You. We both acknowledged the power of the pictures and quotes and how the book helped us through some rough times during their adoption processes. Both of our children were victims of poor pre-natal care before we adopted them.
Our youngest child also suffered from his mother’s drug abuse. We did not become aware of his mothers drug use until the morning we were called to go pick up the two day old child.
We were given the opportunity to back out of the adoption, but thankfully we didn't. I remember sitting in the family room as my wife was on the phone relaying our news to the pediatrician. I looked down to the coffee table only to find your book. I didn't even have to pick it up and a tear came to my eye, remembering some of the quotes, knowing we needed to bring this little infant home no matter what the consequences would be. My wife agreed and we picked him up just a few hours later.
I'm happy to say that today was his six month appointment and he is a very happy and healthy little fellow.
I just wanted to thank you for writing this book. In the beginning we felt isolated and rejected by people not understanding why we were parenting children of another race, but we always came back to the book for comfort. Lately, within the last year or so, we have seen more mixed race families than ever before. We like to believe your book may have had something to do with that.”
I love such mail. In the past I accepted it as evidence of my writing and storytelling skills. Today I readily accept it as evidence that God is doing His work through me. I rather like my new perspective. What better work is there than the good word of the Lord?
On a related note, a brief story: I know someone who knows someone who knows someone else who knows yet someone else. We’ve crossed paths in a random, disconnected fashion over the last year, never having reason to say anything more than hello to one another while passing in the proverbial hallway. But one day a “chance remark” resulted in a cascade of events that may (too soon to tell but why doubt the providence of God) result in a little boy being adopted and thus rescued from a really bad situation. I also received this email the other day:
“Thanks for letting us know about XXX. I was just reading in Acts this morning how ‘he determines the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:26-28).’
It is such a huge encouragement to me to know that in this crazy, mixed up world God is intricately involved in placing us just where we should be so that we will seek Him. May this precious little boy seek Him and find Him and walk with Him all the days of his life.”
So you see, as Paul Young said to a crowd of people last week when he shared his story of a thread woven between a number of lives during a fifty-plus year span, “God is in the details.” Indeed He is!
Well, I guess that’s enough for today. Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and please pray for me and my family. Now go out and hug somebody!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Compassion in Action
Just for fun, here's something I'm working on for the church newsletter about service opportunities. This is based on the Saturday morning a few weeks ago when churches pool together and tackled a number of needs in our commuity. For those who don't know, Cameron is the 12 year old I mentor:
7:30 Rolled out of bed, wished I were sleeping late. Slipped on yesterday’s jeans and new Compassion in Action tee shirt. Grabbed a cup of coffee on the way to pick up Cameron.
8:05 Picked up Cameron and tossed him a CIA tee shirt. He was still sleepy too. Made sure he hugged his mom before we left. Explained what CIA is all about.
8:20 Discussed our stops today as we ate breakfast. Saw a few friends at Chick-fil-a and introduced Cameron. Talked about high school football.
9:00 Arrived at Wellspring Living house. Pulled weeds, fought back kudzu and spread mulch. Introduced Cameron to some friends and got a hug or two.
9:50 Headed to Perimeter. Explained Wellspring Living’s ministry to Cameron.
10:00 Helped fill the basic necessity bags for the Norcross Cooperative Ministry. Sorted shoes for the homeless, admired the backpacks for the foster children, and loaded the truck with groceries. Cameron liked pushing the cart. Chatted with a guy in my discipleship group and introduced him to Cameron.
11:15 Unloaded the groceries at the Norcross Co-op. Cameron helped shelve food. Talked and then prayed with other volunteers. Lost Cameron. Found him in the basement helping a senior stack boxes. Explained how Co-ops work.
12:20 Had subs for lunch. Talked about how good it feels to help others. Discussed his grades and urged him to envision his future. Discussed options for what to do during our time together next weekend. Probably paintball.
12:45 Stopped by Rainbow Village. Laughed watching a boy beg the face painter to decorate his arms too. Tempted by a juicy hamburger but resisted. Cameron played with a few kids for a while and made a new friend.
1:35 Went to help clear the nature trail at an apartment complex but others had already finished the job. Cameron said he was tired, took him home. Talked about girls on the way there.
2:10 Back home. Walked inside rather dirty but with a big smile on my face.
7:30 Rolled out of bed, wished I were sleeping late. Slipped on yesterday’s jeans and new Compassion in Action tee shirt. Grabbed a cup of coffee on the way to pick up Cameron.
8:05 Picked up Cameron and tossed him a CIA tee shirt. He was still sleepy too. Made sure he hugged his mom before we left. Explained what CIA is all about.
8:20 Discussed our stops today as we ate breakfast. Saw a few friends at Chick-fil-a and introduced Cameron. Talked about high school football.
9:00 Arrived at Wellspring Living house. Pulled weeds, fought back kudzu and spread mulch. Introduced Cameron to some friends and got a hug or two.
9:50 Headed to Perimeter. Explained Wellspring Living’s ministry to Cameron.
10:00 Helped fill the basic necessity bags for the Norcross Cooperative Ministry. Sorted shoes for the homeless, admired the backpacks for the foster children, and loaded the truck with groceries. Cameron liked pushing the cart. Chatted with a guy in my discipleship group and introduced him to Cameron.
11:15 Unloaded the groceries at the Norcross Co-op. Cameron helped shelve food. Talked and then prayed with other volunteers. Lost Cameron. Found him in the basement helping a senior stack boxes. Explained how Co-ops work.
12:20 Had subs for lunch. Talked about how good it feels to help others. Discussed his grades and urged him to envision his future. Discussed options for what to do during our time together next weekend. Probably paintball.
12:45 Stopped by Rainbow Village. Laughed watching a boy beg the face painter to decorate his arms too. Tempted by a juicy hamburger but resisted. Cameron played with a few kids for a while and made a new friend.
1:35 Went to help clear the nature trail at an apartment complex but others had already finished the job. Cameron said he was tired, took him home. Talked about girls on the way there.
2:10 Back home. Walked inside rather dirty but with a big smile on my face.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Details and Small Packages
Jill and I attended a banquet last night for Street GRACE, an advocacy organization combatting the sexual exploitation of children. A dear frind of mine is the Executive Director and she invited us along; we sat at the table with the keynote speaker, Paul Young, author of The Shack. Wow, what great storties he told about God's divine plan unfolding in his life. A line I appropriated from him is "God is in the details." Indeed he is, isn't he?
Here's a true story I wrote for the church and wanted to share with you:
Sometimes great things come in small packages. Such as a diamond engagement ring in a little velvet box, a favorite family photograph captured in just a few bytes of digital memory, a song that describes a lifetime sung in less than three minutes.
Or a baby born in a manger who would become the Savior for all mankind.
Emily Stone and Caroline Mock are small packages, both not yet in their teen years, but both already doing great things.
Tagging along with an older sister to a Gold Rush event, the two friends happened to visit the Huntington Creek Apartment complex in Doraville, home of some fifty low income families living just off the runway of the Peachtree DeKalb Airport. While there Emily and Caroline began to play with the smaller children who lived in the complex, darting around on the pine bark covered playground adjacent to the parking lot, ducking under and around an old and battered swing set.
It didn’t take Emily and Caroline long to realize that the swing set was really an accident waiting to happen. Rickety and made of wood, it was older than most of the children. Dry rotted and splintered with nail heads protruding and rungs missing from the ladder, the set would best be repurposed for firewood. Only one of the original four swing seats still hung above the ground, and its chains were rusted and groaned whenever someone took a seat. Kids stood in line waiting their turn, and now and then disagreements broke out as those waiting grew impatient with the one who rode a little too long on the sole swing.
Emily and Caroline talked about their new friends on their way home and wondered out loud if they could do anything to make the playground safer and more fun for them.
They also talked about the upcoming Compassion in Action weekend and somewhere in that conversation an idea was born: the girls would organize a carwash and lemonade sale in their neighborhood to raise money for the purchase of new playground equipment. The young entrepreneurs went door to door explaining their fundraiser, and did indeed wash a few cars and sell a few cups of lemonade.
Yet in the end Emily and Caroline were only able to raise $100, far from enough to purchase the $1800 gift they had in mind for the youngsters living at the Huntington Creek Apartments.
But word of the girls’ ambitious CIA project began to spread, and before long enough money was donated to the cause to cover the cost of the new playground equipment.
On the Saturday of the CIA weekend the girls, their dads and other volunteers gathered at the apartment complex to assemble the structure. Soon the parts, wood beams and platforms, green rubber swing seats, a fireman’s pole, a climbing rope and sliding board lay on the ground, and the excited young residents danced around wanting to know when they could use the new swings.
A few of the older boys offered to help and soon were holding pieces in place while volunteers tightened bolts and screws. The younger children, too small to help and too impatient to wait, did their best to play with the pieces that were not yet ready to be assembled. One boy held the sliding board above his head with his hands while the smallest of his neighbors climbed up his back and then slid down the slide.
Emily and Caroline did their best to keep the children away from the power tools, and eventually additional and welcomed help arrived. Other volunteers came with snacks and crafts and quickly a small group formed on the perimeter of the playground. Children laughed as they colored pictures of Jesus performing miracles and pasted together symbols of faith to use as decorations in their homes. Hot dogs, sodas and chips were served, and no one seemed to care when a light rain began to drizzle on their heads.
No one cared because just a few yards away the playground set was slowly taking shape, rising above the pine bark, strong, safe, large enough for everyone, and promising loads of fun for years to come.
It took six hours and many hands to assemble the new playground equipment, serve the food and supervise the craft activities, but it only took the hearts and imaginations of two young girls – Emily and Caroline – to inspire others to join them in demonstrating the love of Christ and bringing Glory to God.
Sometimes great things come in small packages. Your seemingly small gesture of service or charity may be a priceless treasure to its recipient. What are you willing to give? What dreams could you help come true?
Here's a true story I wrote for the church and wanted to share with you:
Sometimes great things come in small packages. Such as a diamond engagement ring in a little velvet box, a favorite family photograph captured in just a few bytes of digital memory, a song that describes a lifetime sung in less than three minutes.
Or a baby born in a manger who would become the Savior for all mankind.
Emily Stone and Caroline Mock are small packages, both not yet in their teen years, but both already doing great things.
Tagging along with an older sister to a Gold Rush event, the two friends happened to visit the Huntington Creek Apartment complex in Doraville, home of some fifty low income families living just off the runway of the Peachtree DeKalb Airport. While there Emily and Caroline began to play with the smaller children who lived in the complex, darting around on the pine bark covered playground adjacent to the parking lot, ducking under and around an old and battered swing set.
It didn’t take Emily and Caroline long to realize that the swing set was really an accident waiting to happen. Rickety and made of wood, it was older than most of the children. Dry rotted and splintered with nail heads protruding and rungs missing from the ladder, the set would best be repurposed for firewood. Only one of the original four swing seats still hung above the ground, and its chains were rusted and groaned whenever someone took a seat. Kids stood in line waiting their turn, and now and then disagreements broke out as those waiting grew impatient with the one who rode a little too long on the sole swing.
Emily and Caroline talked about their new friends on their way home and wondered out loud if they could do anything to make the playground safer and more fun for them.
They also talked about the upcoming Compassion in Action weekend and somewhere in that conversation an idea was born: the girls would organize a carwash and lemonade sale in their neighborhood to raise money for the purchase of new playground equipment. The young entrepreneurs went door to door explaining their fundraiser, and did indeed wash a few cars and sell a few cups of lemonade.
Yet in the end Emily and Caroline were only able to raise $100, far from enough to purchase the $1800 gift they had in mind for the youngsters living at the Huntington Creek Apartments.
But word of the girls’ ambitious CIA project began to spread, and before long enough money was donated to the cause to cover the cost of the new playground equipment.
On the Saturday of the CIA weekend the girls, their dads and other volunteers gathered at the apartment complex to assemble the structure. Soon the parts, wood beams and platforms, green rubber swing seats, a fireman’s pole, a climbing rope and sliding board lay on the ground, and the excited young residents danced around wanting to know when they could use the new swings.
A few of the older boys offered to help and soon were holding pieces in place while volunteers tightened bolts and screws. The younger children, too small to help and too impatient to wait, did their best to play with the pieces that were not yet ready to be assembled. One boy held the sliding board above his head with his hands while the smallest of his neighbors climbed up his back and then slid down the slide.
Emily and Caroline did their best to keep the children away from the power tools, and eventually additional and welcomed help arrived. Other volunteers came with snacks and crafts and quickly a small group formed on the perimeter of the playground. Children laughed as they colored pictures of Jesus performing miracles and pasted together symbols of faith to use as decorations in their homes. Hot dogs, sodas and chips were served, and no one seemed to care when a light rain began to drizzle on their heads.
No one cared because just a few yards away the playground set was slowly taking shape, rising above the pine bark, strong, safe, large enough for everyone, and promising loads of fun for years to come.
It took six hours and many hands to assemble the new playground equipment, serve the food and supervise the craft activities, but it only took the hearts and imaginations of two young girls – Emily and Caroline – to inspire others to join them in demonstrating the love of Christ and bringing Glory to God.
Sometimes great things come in small packages. Your seemingly small gesture of service or charity may be a priceless treasure to its recipient. What are you willing to give? What dreams could you help come true?
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