I'm always looking for inspiration and hope...
I'm always looking for stories of hope and inspiration. I experienced one recently, so I'm going to share...
Our church is adding on a much-needed social hall and parking lot. When the building committee was looking for a contractor, they hired a company that had experience with a "ministry of construction." It was intriguing, and we decided to use that company and have a construction ministry in our own backyard. I ended up on the hospitality team. (I am no Martha Stewart. I was wondering how I landed there, but looking back, I know if was for a reason.) We started our project in May, and now we're about 60% done as of yesterday. This has been an incredible experience. They worked on our construction project, and we were able to show our appreciation and hospitality.
For our ministry of construction, the team decided to serve breakfast every Tuesday, snacks on Thursdays, and lunch once a month. We had a small budget, and I thought of the miracle of the fish and loaves when I thought about feeding 30-50 people twice a week for 7 months. I was overwhelmed with the generosity of the church community. During this horrible economic downturn (one of the worst in modern history), people donated food, drinks, ice, and their time. Folks volunteered to serve and clean up. They made sure that the workers had ice cold drinks throughout the oppressive Richmond summer. We had volunteers who pooled their resources and provided full lunches. We had folks who got up before six to provide food and fellowship. Sunday school classes and Vacation Bible School attendees made cards and wrote thank you notes. Crafters got together and created hand-made tags with messages of hope to add to the snack bags.
Cupcakes, casseroles, and Gatorade seem like token things, but through small gestures of caring and appreciation, I've seen goodness in a time where hope is often hard to find.
(I also learned from our foreman that we have not had one construction worker miss a day of work on our job site. That's pretty amazing!)
Our church is adding on a much-needed social hall and parking lot. When the building committee was looking for a contractor, they hired a company that had experience with a "ministry of construction." It was intriguing, and we decided to use that company and have a construction ministry in our own backyard. I ended up on the hospitality team. (I am no Martha Stewart. I was wondering how I landed there, but looking back, I know if was for a reason.) We started our project in May, and now we're about 60% done as of yesterday. This has been an incredible experience. They worked on our construction project, and we were able to show our appreciation and hospitality.
For our ministry of construction, the team decided to serve breakfast every Tuesday, snacks on Thursdays, and lunch once a month. We had a small budget, and I thought of the miracle of the fish and loaves when I thought about feeding 30-50 people twice a week for 7 months. I was overwhelmed with the generosity of the church community. During this horrible economic downturn (one of the worst in modern history), people donated food, drinks, ice, and their time. Folks volunteered to serve and clean up. They made sure that the workers had ice cold drinks throughout the oppressive Richmond summer. We had volunteers who pooled their resources and provided full lunches. We had folks who got up before six to provide food and fellowship. Sunday school classes and Vacation Bible School attendees made cards and wrote thank you notes. Crafters got together and created hand-made tags with messages of hope to add to the snack bags.
Cupcakes, casseroles, and Gatorade seem like token things, but through small gestures of caring and appreciation, I've seen goodness in a time where hope is often hard to find.
(I also learned from our foreman that we have not had one construction worker miss a day of work on our job site. That's pretty amazing!)
“Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it.” ~ Hebrews 13:2
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