Habitat for Humanity - Day of Reflections

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

My entry today is going to be a jumbled mess, and I know it.  There are too many things to say.  Too many angles to take.  Too many people's thoughts to relay.

I am at a loss for words.  Or, I have too many words to say. 

I am surprised.  Or, my suspicions are confirmed.

I am seeing the temporal pain.  Or, I am seeing portions of the eternal blessing.

This was a crazy day.  It started off normal, waking up at 5:15.  At the worksite, some groups had no work to do.  Some groups worked too fast and ran out of materials.  Some groups had plenty to do.  There were numerous situations on the worksite which frustrated or at least attempted to frustrate.  For many, this was a trying day because it was juxtapositioned next to a day in which encouragement, productivity, and excitement reigned. It was apparent that today was different--harder.  All I know is that there are no accidents in life.

Before I go into any details of the day, let me just tell you a story:

            Tuesday I got to spend a lot of time on the worksite with one of our AmeriCorps workers.  These people (AmeriCorps) are the volunteers in charge of coordinating our work on each site.  This girl, Sam, and I got to talk for a while about many things, just life I guess.  Turns out that I know a lot about her life now.  First and foremost, she isn't a Christian and she has made some lifestyle choices that I am entirely opposed to.  Second, she is doing "fine".  I always assume that those without knowledge of Christ are admittedly suffering, that they think their life sucks, and that I have the answer to fix their problem.  But, what can I do when someone who doesn't know Christ, seems ok?  All I know to do is love.  All I know to do is be joyful.  All I know how to do is be a light.  She doesn't think she needs love.  She doesn't think she needs joy.  She doesn't think she is in darkness. 

Now, let me just finish the story of today.

Eight of us left the worksite and headed back to the church we are staying at.  We were caravanning with another van and we pulled up next to them at a light.  We decided that it would be fun to get out and do a Chinese Fire Drill (a game where you get out the car and run around and then get back in).  It turns out that the traffic light changed back to green in the middle of our run around the car.  As we dashed for the doors, a boy on our team tripped and fell just as our other Taylor van accelerated.  The other van had the misfortune of rolling over his ankle. It was nobody's fault, it just happened.  He got back in the car, promptly announcing that he had just seen his leg bend and split into two.  The car group worked together to get directions and navigate to the nearest health clinic in extreme traffic (who claimed that they couldn't treat him).  Meanwhile, car members were working feverishly to keep Paul's mind off the pain.  We laughed and we joked.  We asked him questions to concentrate on answering.  We screamed with him every time the car accelerated and decelerated.  Finally arriving at the hospital, we waited for what seemed like an hour and a half (perhaps it was more like 15 minutes) to get a wheelchair for our cripple.  We said good bye to him and Dusty and made our way back to tell this crazy story to the rest of our team.

So, basically, we made a silly mistake. We did something very unintelligent.  There was a freak occurrence and one of our team members leg's was broken.  This may sound odd, but this was one of the best car rides I have ever been a part of.  I laughed more in those 30 minutes than I have in a very long time (and I know some funny people).  I saw a true sense of community.  I saw a peace that passes understanding.  I saw the joy of the Lord as our strength.  Not only did I see all these amazing things right after the fact, but I also, upon thinking it over, realized what a unique opportunity it gave me and my team to share what makes our lives as Christians highly unique, hopeful, and peaceful, despite trials.

The whole time I had been looking for a way to reach my AmeriCorps girls through some trial in their life, some flaw, some inconsistency, or some painful event.  It turns out that God turned the tables on my thought process and, again, proved me ill equipped to plan the course of human history.  By giving us a trial, a problem, that by anyone else's standards was the most unfortunate of events, one that would cause panic, uneasiness, blame or sadness, He really gave us an opportunity to show how we are different.  Before this occurrence, I struggled to find a way to show WHY we were different.  Here it was, and thanks be to God.

I was in charge of devotionals the next morning, and I had stayed up late, basking in the glory of the so-called, "bad-day," which I prefer to call the day of opened doors.  I should have been tired, but God had given me strength through the joy I derived from that previous day.  Upon talking with a group member, he shared some verses that served to perfectly encapsulate the situation, not limit its effects, but describe all that we had been gleaning from the day's events.

1 Peter 1:3-9, " 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

These sufferings are for such a little while.  They are physical trials, in a spiritual battle.  In this case, an physical injury has turned out to be a spiritual blessing, for His power is made perfect in weakness. 

This time spent reflecting on the previous day's events in the morning before we started work was truly a blessing.  The AmeriCorps girls said how much they enjoyed what we had to say.  Sam, in particularly, made a point to come up and tell me that she wasn't "religious" but that after the devos for the past two days, it made her want to be "religious." This was comforting, just to know that she had tasted something that she hadn't yet experienced.  It gave her the reason behind why we seemed so different than all the other groups (a compliment she heaped on us often).

If you think of it, commit the AmeriCorps workers to your prayers.  I know that I, along with the rest of my team, have loved on these people and shared about our faith.  We have done what has been asked of us, but now it is up to those Christians who happen to be  in the program already.  Pray that this would be an open door for those people to slip in and be a catalyst for change in their lives.