Ebb & Flow

Serve Day has ended.

It was a learning experience. I think the thing that made it the most difficult was the intensity of the communication... I sometimes felt as though I was talking to so many people about so many different issues that I couldn't keep track of who needed what or who I had talked to about their project, or being at a meeting in Costa Mesa, or... you name it. At one time I had a pretty good memory - I could remember exact conversations, details, dates, etc. I suppose with not doing theatre anymore and thereby not memorizing scripts anymore I'm not putting that muscle to use.

Aaron and I actually didn't do one of the various Serve Day projects. We opted, instead, to take the huge binder I had put together with project information and maps and go driving around the Inland Empire, finding people doing projects and handing out ice cold water and checking on any supplies they needed. We also got some granola bars in case anyone had forgotten to eat breakfast. :) Much to my surprise, most project leaders were a step ahead of us on that side. But there was one project, the car wash at Albertson's in Upland, who had almost run out of water. So they were grateful and we were able to give them a whole case of water.

Then we had planned to head down to San Antonio park, where there was a homeless BBQ going on to give out the last of the water. Wouldn't you know we passed the street I had intended for us to turn on to get down to the park, and we ended up on Grove:

Which is near where I used to live in some apartments on 9th street. We saw day laborers there all the time. And sure enough, they were waiting to be picked up on this hot July afternoon. So we drove up and down the street and gave them water and granola bars. They were extremely grateful, and I think a bit surprised that people stopped just to give them some water... huh, just like it says in Matthew 25, right?

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

And after that, I recalled that we saw some homeless people on Mountain, so we headed back over there and gave out the last of our water and granola bars. I felt a little bit guilty that we hadn't done an official project, but the day laborers made it all worth it. I think we could easily incorporate that into the Mobile Closet and send out a team to go hand out water to them on the same day we go hand out clothing & toiletries to the homeless in Ontario.

Hopefully next year I will either have someone else be the Anchor for Serve Day, or I will just be able to handle the workload better as I hope to grow into my role in ministry. I don't regret taking it on, it's just that the inner perfectionist wishes I had done a better job with it.

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business.

Michael J. Fox (1961 - ), quoted by Lorne A. Adrain in 'The Most Important Thing I Know'