Saying Goodbye

Today was a day of mixed emotions. We're all a little relieved (even if we won't admit it) that we don't have to get up and work in the heat and humidity tomorrow. But we're also disappointed--disappointed that we don't get to finish that last project, disappointed that we don't get to spend another day with new friends from First Church, and especially disappointed that we don't get to spend a little more time with the families that have worked their way into our hearts this week. So yes, we're excited to go back home to Denver. But it's going to be hard (perhaps unexpectedly so) to leave. A few great moments today might explain why (and you'll undoubtedly hear of many others from me and from others in the coming weeks and months):

• Several members of our group have been working on the home of a woman named Roxie. Roxie is around seventy years old, but apparently a little shy--the crew working on her home has talked to her a total of (maybe) five minutes. So, naturally, they wondered what impact--if any--they were making on Roxie's life (beyond the new roof on her carport). Well tonight, Ken (the DRS/CRWRC supervisor who is our point person here) mentioned that he talked with Roxie this afternoon. She told him how impressed she was with her crew--they worked harder then the men she'd paid to do the same job! (These people apparently quit the job well before it was completed, but took Roxie's money anyway). But then she made this comment: "I've been praying for months and months that God would fix my house. And then one day, you suddenly appeared and two days later my roof was fixed!" Reflecting on this, Ken said: "You thought you were just putting in a new roof, but you made a much bigger difference than that. You renewed Roxie's faith in prayer..."
• One of the members of our group asked the owners of the house where we worked to pose for a picture with her (they are pictured below). When they asked why, she explained that she wanted to send a picture with the thank you cards she intended to send to the people who had helped pay for the trip so they knew who they helped and who they were praying for. The couple looked rather astounded by this and asked her to clarify. She then had to explain that her family, friends, and church members had helped pay for the trip, and that they had also committed to praying for her and the people she worked with. The couple happily posed, but for the next half an hour, we heard them muttering back and forth to each other: "There's people praying for us there. For us. Imagine that! And there church paid to send them here!"
• Today was the sixteenth birthday of Johnny, one of two boys in the house I and many others have been working on this week. We decided to to throw him a little birthday party--got a cake from Dairy Queen and all signed a card. To tell you the truth, I didn't think anything of the card. But the I saw Johnny, who is very quiet and rarely seems to smile (until you get to know him a bit) reading the card. Each and every comment. Twice.

Looking over these snippets, it seems that one of the big lessons I've been reminded of this week is that our small efforts often go much further than we would dare to hope. But then again, maybe that shouldn't be such a surprise. It shouldn't be a surprise because the God we serve is big and strong and powerful--even when we are not. And it shouldn't be a surprise because Jesus himself said that the Kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman worked through a big batch of dough. It starts out small, but grows big.

I hope God uses all our little efforts we made this week that way--that each comment written in a card, each piece of drywall and stroke of the paintbrush, each casual conversation becomes one of his little packets of yeast sprinkled throughout this big batch of dough, slowly but surely--and by God's grace--spreading the Kingdom.