October 19 – “of a different sort”

Chris and I joined the Alvin ministry team for a while yesterday.  They were once again hard at work handing out supplies and a hot meal to the residents of the community we have adopted.  Even a little four-year-old joined the team this week.  It was fun to watch her stack clothes and carry one end of a box in tandem with her patient mom.  It was also inspiring to hear our team call residents by name and to see the smiles spread over the faces of the people receiving help.  One lady even stepped into the street and stopped a truck driving by.  She called the guy by name and said, “Aren’t you gonna stop and see me?”  He grinned broadly and replied, “Well get over here and I will.”  They hugged through the window, and she took him a bag with his hot meal and some snacks for later. 

We also took some specific supplies for the Everlasting Life Christian Ministry Church.  That’s the one we have been working with in the neighborhood up there.  We also gave Pastor Domingo a gift card for $500 from Seaside, no strings attached, of course.  He immediately had ideas about where it could do the most good in the church.  They are at the point of decision now to prioritize repairs.  What has to happen that will make the building safe for use and what can they accomplish over time?  They need a structural beam at the building center to help support the roof and the building needs to be leveled out.  Those are the two really big-ticket items.  There are a myriad of smaller things that they can worry about much later.  Meanwhile they are still working on their smaller fellowship building where they are now meeting.  After volunteers tore out sheetrock and removed damaged appliances, someone volunteered to hang the sheetrock and get it taped and bedded.  Someone else came in and sprayed texture.  Then the first guy came back and painted the walls.  All the church had to do was come up with money for supplies.  Pastor Domingo counted it all a miracle.  In fact, he sees even the little that we are doing every week up there as nothing short of amazing.  We see it as a chance to get in on some work that God was already doing. 

From there we went by Lifeway Book Store to get some Bibles to hand out at our Halloween Outreach event.  We have three or four hundred kids come by our house every year, so we host a party so we can get some help handing out Bibles and candy.  Problem was, the store didn’t have any of the small New Testaments we have been using.  They offered to order some, but couldn’t guarantee they would be in by Halloween.  I decided to try online at some of the Bible publisher sites. 

Next we stopped in Dickinson to check in on the Boyer family.  The neighborhood looks a lot better without much of the mounds of garbage and debris that littered the streets when people were doing demo on their homes.  Speaking of demo, the house next door to them was just now getting gutted out.  Many different stages.  Kelly and Rita were home.  The Boyer’s are just starting to hang sheetrock, but still have a few places that have not sufficiently dried out.  While we were there a guy came to buy the last of their flooded out vehicles.  We prayed with them and gave them a gift card to help with a few pieces of sheetrock.  Or maybe with a family dinner at a restaurant.  No strings attached. 

Finally, we stopped at Sam’s.  We had to pick up the food and supplies for the Fall Festival which is coming up fast.  This Saturday from 4 to 8, in fact.  Shawn picked up the block party trailer, so we will have a bounce house for the kids.  Lauren has the hay and pumpkins we got in Branson.  Several ladies are lined up to bring chili for the chili dogs and frito pies.  We can use all the help we can get to man the different games and especially to spread the word ahead of time.  Ministry of a different sort.

1 John 4:7-8 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Father, thank you for the many different ways there are to touch people for you.  Amen.