Getting dirty

It feels good to take action. After all we have seen, it was good to pick up a hammer and begin destroying some of it away. Now, I know we weren't working on a Katrina building today (we worked on a building that UMCOR had been using that had a fire), but I went at it like had been damaged by the storm. I am stiff and sore after taking out screws, taking out nails, removing fiberglass and demolishing dry wall. (Drywall does not want to give to my demolishing will. In the end, it lost the fight.) The heat and humidity takes a toll on your body. It's hard not to let it take a toll on your spirit. The going seems so slow in the midst of it, but an hour later you can see the rest of the group through what used to be a wall. The sun shines through the place where the roof used to be. Rebuilding is ready to happen.
It was interesting to work on an UMCOR building. (Tomorrow we being working on Katrina houses doing more of what we did today.) While it wasn't what we came here to do, we came to Louisiana with the intention to do whatever we could, wherever we could. I felt like we had an opportunity to be a servant of the servants. These people had been taking care of those who lost their homes and so much more. Now they were in need, and we could provide assistance to them. This is what ministry is all about - not just mission. It's providing for a need and trusting that God is in control of what needs to happen. Not my will, but thine, be done. It's not easy, at first, to hand myself over completely to that trust, but it's getting better.