"Something for Everyone!"

Crew!

Think that no one notices how hard you work as leaders? See the spontaneous e-mail that i received today from a volunteer who happened to come to the Food Drop that we did on Sunday (June 19th) in Benton Harbor:

Wow. What a day. If I was keeping an accurate count, we delivered around 960 boxes of food and personal care items to the residents of Benton Harbor in and around the area of the Jimmy Carter / Habitat build sites in just under 2 hours. No wonder this old guy is a bit sore.

I have to admit though that it wasn't easy. It wasn’t like the January food drops. For me it was like the collision of two worlds - maybe War of the Worlds is a good description. Let me explain.

The Brazil Center where we unloaded the trucks is just two blocks from where my first business was located. The neighborhood really hasn't changed much. Suddenly I was thinking back to all the time I spent there. The good times. The bad times. The people I knew. The people I wanted to forget. The people who treated me badly. Yet I was there, but this time I was surrounded by my GCC family.

We needed to make sure that these people knew they mattered to God - something that wasn't exactly on my agenda. I decided that the only way I was going to get through this was to lean on Jesus and my GCC teammates. Don did an incredible job of getting us focused and fired up. There was energy and excitement. I was drawing on it. And it penetrated deep.

I found myself quietly thinking, 'Jesus, you know what the past has been. You know what I'm feeling. I'm just going to leave the judgment to you and concentrate on living the moment and following your example. Let me walk in your footsteps.'

The day took on new meaning. We loaded the pickups and sent them off into the neighborhoods with encouragement and applause. A few of us stayed behind to reload the pickups as they returned for more and also to load the now steady stream of cars containing curious residents. More than once I heard myself tell a drive-up neighbor that we just wanted to let them know that they mattered to us and to God. Not exactly what I started out to do.

The residents we served received boxes of food, care items and hopefully a sense that they really do matter. But they weren't the only ones that got something. I think we all left with more than we came with - I know I did.

What you do and how you do it matter so much! Thank you all for being the kind of leadership team that is not only fun to serve, but fun to serve with!

Shinken!
-samurai jack