Minot1 Work Day #3

Another "muck and gut today."  This one was a little easier.  We were done by about 3:30 pm.  

The same story as yesterday.  -  Arrived at the house.  Some worked in the basement, some mostly upstairs.  We were joined by our friends from yesterday, too.  They are HARD workers!  We got done a little early, went and cleaned up before dinner, and were served dinner at a Lutheran church in town.  French toast and sausage! 

Then Rod St., Erin, Kristen, Matt, and Shirley went to the Geographic Center of North America.  (Rod has some pictures).  On our way back to the church, the rest of us stopped at the grocery store and bought a few things like vegetables and eggs to hard boil for breakfast.  We have been so blessed by the hospitality of Lutheran Disaster Response, and the people at the church we are staying at.  When we got back to the church, some of the ladies were there and dug into our groceries and started boiling our eggs and cutting up our vegetables for us.  They take their hospitality very seriously.  

Which kind of brings me to something I was thinking about.  

This morning, Bob's devotion was about "What is a Christian?"  (It was an assignment I gave him on the last trip which he took seriously)  He talked about an aspect of Christians being able to follow the "Golden Rule" and also the reciprocal of that-  Being able to receive from others as we want others to be able to receive from us.  And this evening, it was a little hard to do that.  The people in this church we are staying at are very giving and loving.  This is their ministry.  They open their church to groups from all over, and are glad to do it.  They seemed a little bit disappointed that we felt like we had to buy anything.  On the flip side of that, I try to not be a burden on anyone.  So I was sitting there telling them everything was fine and good and what was already here was great and more than enough, etc.  And they are looking at me with my bags of vegetables like I'm crazy.  I guess I have something to work on.  

I don't like mucking out houses.  But experiencing the People of God doing what He has called them to do makes it all worth it.  Whether that person is called to  making sandwiches for volunteers or joining a group of strangers to serve with, or carrying pails of muck up the stairs out to the junk pile, we are the People of God doing what God has called us to do.  And it's good.  

There are some more pictures posted on our Picasa website.  (click here)

And to see our blog or send it to a friend-  (www.rodscof.blogspot.com)

Or search us on Facebook, search for River Bend Mission Team.  

Lewis didn't say anything about his cold to me today.  No news is good news, right?

Thank you for praying for us-  our safety, and health (team vs. black mold spores), and that God would reveal to us what He wants us to see, the wisdom to understand it, and the courage to respond in a way the brings the Kingdom closer.  

Peace!

R

--
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban.  It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
--  Howard Macey