Stiff

I woke up this morning, and felt the day before in every muscle involved with moving my arms. It's amazing what the cumulative effect of lifting and stacking 171 bags of groceries will do to the body that isn't used to it. But to spend some time helping Evelyn Mount's Community Outreach was worth it.

Ms. Mount has been distributing food to the needy out of her garage since 1978. I helped for two hours, along with 10 other people from my church. Pull the food from the shelves, put it in the bags, according to the list posted on the wall. A simple process. Our first round we did 99 bags, our second round added 72 more (but went much faster per bag, as we knew what we were doing).

Once again I was thinking of excuses not to go, once again after going I can't imagine doing anything else. Not only were we helping, but we had fun doing it. Food flying through the air, shouts of "Two Beans!" or "Three Soups" as various bag-stuffers called ou what they needed to their shelf-pullers. The two kids that came along doing their best to help as well (even Noah, just 4 years old, passed along cans and took out garbage).

What did we accomplish? We invested time and energy to help Mrs. Mount with her outreach. We helped, in doing so, to feed the hungry. We got to know others in the church a little better. We showed the young'ns what it means to serve, and did so gladly.

And can I say that for a church which has been averaging around 30 people the past couple weeks, a turnout of 11 people for a service project is pretty good. We want everyone to be serving - not only at our "sponsored" service projects, but on their own, in the ways that they are gifted. That a third of the church could be in one place at one time helping was a blessing.