First Day of Work

It's amazing how God works to set some things up, completely without our knowledge. Some might call it coincidence, other divine intervention...whatever you call it, God works things out in ways that blow our minds sometimes.

And right now, mine's blown.

There are SO many people I know here. A group of youth from my vicarage congregation that I taught in confirmation class two years ago. A friend of mine from the seminary library. Another couple that I met or got to know at the seminary. There are probably a few more that I'm not thinking of at the moment. Lutheran connections as so crazy. The degree of seperation is, like 2 or 3 to the usual 7.

And it's amazing, too, how God sets things up for our work here. One of our groups went to a nursing home today to help out there, and my group went to Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in the heart of New Orleans to help out with VBS. It was a blast, and actually, the whole trip has been a blast.

There's been just one MINOR hitch, for me: I lost my voice. Yeah, not so minor.

It's been a journey of faith for me to be without a musical instrument that's so important to me and how I do ministry, but God is good, and He makes our weaknesses in strengths...with a whole lot of comedy thrown in for good measure. God's so good.

Above all, in the midst of all of the craziness, I see people being drawn to God. In the midst of the flurry of activity that is Camp Restore, I see people developing community with a common purpose: restoring what has been destroyed in Jesus' Name. And THAT's what makes all of the hard work worth it...each drop of sweat, every hour of preparation, each ounce of energy past what you may have thought was your limit. All I can say is, wish you were here, doing this. God's peace to you and blessings on where He's placed you. ps