Today I joined a friend of mine and we joined my church's Second Saturday Serve project opportunity. I have been wanting to do these since I moved here, however in the 6 or so months that I have been here I have only been in town for 1 of those and a friend was in town which caused the scheduling to be conflicting. I showed up a little early with Starbucks in hand, and talked to Matt another NCC attender, but to a different location. Then my friend and others slowly started trickling in.
Eventually they began explaining the service opportunities and the need at each location, along with the number of people needed. I needed to physically do work today, not sure why, but I needed to be productive. So, I volunteered to not only go to one of the more physical locations, but take the lead on it. We went to Christ's House, a place that supplies food to the community at large.. but ALSO supplies a whole slew of other food pantries in and around the city. They move thousands of pounds of food a year. It was really rather amazing. So, we followed Nicole down to the cramped basement with a low ceiling to get the instructions... We packed boxes full of food that will be sent to other food pantries. Each box could be no more than 40lbs, so we packed, weighed, wrote the poundage on each box and stuck a sticker of the organization on each box... All while ducking, bending, and slouching to avoid hitting our heads on heating ducts, water piping, and lights. I am not sure anyone realizes the challenges tall people have when carrying a 40lb box while having to duck or limbo under things. Whew! Afterwards the three of us (packing 30 boxes) headed to lunch to just hang out and chat, laughing and enjoying getting to know new people.
I loved the chance to physically get to show love to people who will never know what I have done. The mothers who feed their children with the food I packed today will never know how sore my back is or the time I spent in a damp basement to help her feed her family. That is awesome to me, I love that.. and it could not have been a more perfect project for me today.
Afterwards I stopped by the store to pick up a whole lot of Ramen Noodles to ship to my friend in Afghan-land.. And could not help but giggle at the store when a lady stopped me saying "I am so sorry.. but I am short, and you are very tall, can you reach up there and grab that for me?" She was so sweet about it, and let's be honest, it took no effort at all...
When I got home I for some reason had energy to spare.. So, I went for a 2 mile run in the misting rain... came home to do homework, laundry, and relax...
Now I'm getting ready to head out dancing (my body is really gonna hate me tomorrow!)...
I am so beyond content today. It amazes me how God works. All it takes is a little time actively getting outside my selfishness and putting some actions behind my words that speak more to my heart than so many other things I could have chosen to spend my time doing today.
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