The week of December 2nd-December 8th, I had the distinct honor to lead 7 members of Torch Community Church in a week long mission experience working with Samaritans Purse in Island Park, NY in Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. I had worked with Samaritans Purse in the past as a day worker and had seen from surface level the greatest relief and recovery organization on the planet in action. But spending the entire week opened my eyes to just how powerful of a force Samaritans Purse really is in both relief efforts as well as spiritual impact.
Quickly on the relief effort side of things, Samaritans Purse is incredibly organized and well structured. With workers coming and going on a daily basis, Ed, our volunteer coordinator handled the crowd, created teams, and managed the people resources available with the greatest of efficiency. Todd Taylor, the project coordinator, handled the overwhelming task of delegating work orders with an incredible expediency. More than a few times while working, we would hear homeowners, neighbors, or people in the community talking about other recovery organizations who would leave a home in worse shape than Sandy, but not Samaritan's Purse. Those orange shirts became in the community a symbol of hope and excellence.
But far more than merely helping people recover from the physical damage of the storm, SP is healing victims spiritually. The BGEA Chaplains were working alongside the SP workers, talking with the homeowners helping them to sift through the devastation of Sandy on their lives rather than merely their house. The volunteers are encouraged to engage in conversations with the homeowners to let them tell their story. For it may be just one more time of sharing their story that they can begin healing emotionally and spiritually. Baseboards and drywall can be replaced, but no insurance can cover the emotional and spiritual damage these homeowners are experiencing. These conversations were my second favorite part of the week. We were blessed to witness 2 separate homeowners give their lives to Jesus. And at another, a large manly older gentleman, hardened by decades of life, was brought to tears as we prayed with him. Disasters have a way of opening people up to being loved. Getting forced out of the comfortable dependencies of life that we so easily take for granted causes a certain hunger for greater things. These homeowners were ready for healing that has been needed in their lives long before Sandy blew into NY. This was so much more gratifying than snapping up flooring with a prybar, enjoyable as that actually was.
But the most rewarding aspect of working with Samaritan's Purse this week, the reason I will be coming back many times and I would encourage anyone reading this to work an extended period in one location, was relationships developed with the most amazing Christian men and women that I have ever been around.
Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
I have never been so encouraged and motivated to wake up at 5:30 in the morning after only getting 6 hours of sleep for 7 straight days than I was this week. This for one primary reason, the great cloud of witnesses surrounding me. Other groups who flew in from all over the country like California, South Carolina, and even as far as Maui. The young man who came with his girlfriend to work for a weekend. But told her to go home without him, that his work here wasn't finished. He was still there after we left, still unsure how he would even get back home to Columbus, OH. The young man who traveled on a MegaBus alone all the way from Kansas City to NYC. The young woman who came by herself from right here in Cincinnati. The young woman from CA who flew to NY by herself to work because, as she said, "The world is full of talkers. I don't want to be a talker anymore." And the many repeat workers, retired men and women who struggle to come alongside Samaritan's Purse like an addiction. These are without a doubt, the greatest Christians in their churches and communities, who have formed the great fraternity of workers. Those who like all the rest of us, have plenty of reasons and excuses not to go, but will not allow any barrier to prohibit God's call on their life to love others. Love. Their great motivation. The intensity of their love for God has become a well of living water overflowing within them, and as God pours out His love in them, it compels them to go. To find others who are empty. And to pour love into them. To do...something. The amount of work may be overwhelming. But anything is better than nothing. And so they go.
If I were to somehow be able to create a church full of SP workers, we'd be the greatest church in America. But I am glad to know that I am a part of that family, the universal church...even if I'm the "special" brother who lives in the amazing shadow of my great family.
No comments:
Post a Comment