Monday, June 11, 2012

An Uncomfortably Hot Mess

"Help us feed hungry children in Nicawaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhgwwwwwaaaaaaaaa!!!"

My youngest, Isaac's, voice rang out in the parking lot.  It was a 90-degree, blazing hot sun kind of Saturday.  The kind where when you stand up from sitting too long in a white plastic deck chair your shorts are inevitably stuck to your sweating legs 

Uncomfortably awkward.

Tannah had been begging for months to have a bake sale and give all of the profits to our church-wide summer initiative, GO.  One of the projects in GO will be purchasing the makings of 20,000 meals for hungry children and assembling them together as a church body to be sent overseas. 
In true family style, all five of us pitched in for the undertaking.  One of our family mottos (or just something I repeat again and again, praying that it sinks into every member's soul) is "We're better together."  We each did our part, and Saturday morning found us all together on the sidewalk outside a local hardware store pushing our lemonade and cookies on every passer-by. 

Josh and I sat at the table, and our three children positioned themselves strategically holding their neon green poster board signs a ways down from us near the entrance of the store.  They offered fresh home-baked cookies and ice-cold lemonade to every potential customer, pleading the plight of their hungry peers in Nicaragua.  

Most people were kind and smilingly helped out, generously putting extra in the Folgers coffee can.  

Some avoided eye contact entirely and walked by.

And here was my favorite.  A younger man, about the age of Josh and me, walked up to our children with his two young toddlers in tow.  Our table was positioned in such a way that not every person who saw our children immediately noticed our refreshment stand off to the side.  This gentleman didn't. 

He simply saw our children.

As he drew closer, I heard our sweet Tannah's voice boldly ask, "Can you please help us feed the hungry children in Nicaragua?"

He stopped walking.  Looking her in the eye, he responded quite matter of factly, "Yeah.  I think we can do that." 

Our kids began walking in our direction, the man and his toddlers following.  He still hadn't seen our booth, yet walked behind our children. 

"So, how are we going to do this?"  He asked.

Our children then started explaining the GO project and the meal packaging, the cookies and the lemonade.  The pieces of the puzzle fit together as he spotted our stand, and he was more than happy to purchase their product.

I.  LOVED. IT.  Why, you ask? 


He was presented with a problem and he said, "I'm in."  "Let's do this.  Let's fix this thing."  There was no hemming and hawing, no averted gaze, no uncomfortably awkward pause or walking away.

He just straight up rolled up his sleeves and got in the mess with us to help get this thing done.

Are you in? 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  ~James 1:27

Enjoy today,




P.S.  You are welcome here!  Thank you for stopping by for a visit.  Feel free to  join the conversation by leaving a comment and sharing your thoughts.

2 comments:

  1. Great story this morning Wendy, the father of those children was setting a wonderful example and may not of even realized it. :) Robin

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    1. Yes he was indeed, Robin! We never know how our smallest of actions are reaching other people's hearts. Blessings to you ~ Wendy

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