Beginnings

What a week it has been. I sometimes forget when I leave here how busy it truly is all the time. It seems like there is never a dull moment around Impact during the summers. Everything sort of speeds by out of control when we start the each week. I have been blessed during my time here already and it has quickly become a home to me again. I love these people so much and the opportunities I get to love and be loved.Over the past two weeks we have done quite a bit. We got our interns about 10 days ago and they have all been working extra hard since then. They're a great group and I'm confident that our teamwork will be outstanding. We've mainly been focusing our efforts on a two-week reading camp that we are smack dab in the middle of. Each afternoon, about 50 children come to strengthen their literacy skills by participating in a Charlotte's Web themed camp. They seem to love it.My big role starts in one week when we begin our mega prep for 4 weeks of VBS. I'm really excited about this part of the summer. On Wednesday all of the youth ministers, children's ministers, and interns went out to Cypress to do a ropes challenge course. We had an absolute blast! It was so great to see the way our teens stepped up to tackle each of the tasks. We did two high elements, which were a gigantic zip line and a huge swing. Needless to say, I am still very sore and achy from doing belle all day.It's easy to get caught up in the routine of ministry and just to go trough the motions. However, yesterday something happened that humbled me unlike anything before. I pick up one of the high school girls who is interning for VBS this summer. She doesn't live too far from where I am staying so it's not a big deal. Yesterday was the last day I will pick her up because her sister will be in town to do it in the coming weeks. It's important to remember that high school interns get paid once a week, and today was payday.

So as we are pulling onto her street, she says to me, "Jeremy, I'm going to give you something and you have to promise to not say no." So I say OK and she goes on to pull out two $10 dollar bills to me. She said, "It's for the gas". My immediate reaction was [impolitely] say, "No" which I had just promised not to do. But I caught myself, and let her know what it meant to me that she would do that.

On the way home, I couldn't help but get emotional. I had just experienced a true gift from the depths of someone's heart. I felt like I had never been served like this before. She took the time and thought to give ME something. It was a punch in the gut from above that it is not all about me and what I am trying to do for people. It is about what we do for each other. I'm reminded of the widow that gave two shekels because it was all she could give, but it was the richest and most savory offering to God. Marilyn's gift to me is sweeter than anything I could receive from the wealth of the world.

This was definitely my lesson for the week and maybe even the summer. It put everything in perspective. In other news...a ninth grader whose mom and sister are in a women's and children's shelter is staying with me for a few days. He didn't really have a place to go, so my "family" here was gracious enough for me to take him in for a bit after he's been with a different intern for a few days. He really just needs to know that things will turn out alright and there is some consistency amidst being without a home.

Well, I think I'm going to take a little bit to run some errands and then take SeDarious out for his birthday. Some of the interns went to the Space Center today, so maybe we'll go there. For now, have a blessed day and have some peace.