God sighting at rake n' run...

It is pretty obvious that raking some yards is a fun and easy way to get people serving others.  It is also a cool way to let people know about a new church if you say something or leave info.  Yesterday turned out to be much more than that...

1.  One of our "raking teams" went to the house of a single mother.  She had just pulled into the driveway with leaf bags and was planning to call someone to do the raking for her for $40 (which was certainly more necessary and could be put to better use in other ways).  Why God lead that team to that house I do not know but it was a huge blessing for both parties!

2.  Another "raking team" did all the leaves for an 86 year old lady whose husband passed away a couple years ago.  She shared with us that she thought about raking but there was no physical way she would have been able to do it (and I can attest to that as it took our team of 8 over an hour to get it done and my hand is still sore the day after).  She told us she was a missionary and that her husband had been a minister...it was so good to serve her!

3.  One of the teams was raking at a house of an older lady when her children came out to ask how much they would owe.  When the family realized what was happening the lady came out with tears in her eyes and told us that there was just no possible way she was going to be able to rake and so she prayed and asked God to help.  God decided to show up in the form of "us" and it made a huge difference!

Thanks to everyone who served in any capacity and to God for using us in such simple ways to make such a big difference for people! 

(One final note...while Christopher did little more than play in the leaves, spread leaves back out & explore, as a parent I love knowing that involving my two year old in things like this is help to instill the values of serving, helping out & giving back (actually being Jesus in practical ways to others) into the core of who he is becoming...and that is so important to me!)