Category Archives for "Servefest"

Encouraged By You

This week has been a STRETCHING week to say the least as our family and our church has served in the community though Servefest.  My post on Thursday was about finite disappointment and infinite hope.  I just had to share the encouraging comments that came through from The Stretched Community.  Thank you so much!  This is one of the things I love about the blog world.

  • TJ “It’s hearing other people’s stories–both when they’re waiting to see their hope fulfilled or are already enjoying a victory–that inspire me, as well as hearing God’s promises. He’s able to do more than we could ask or think, and I’m praying that He does that for you guys.”
  • Ngina Otiende  “Your post brings Ephesians 6 to mind “..having done all, to stand.” I am praying for you and the team and elderly lady. As you stand, God will work the situation to His glory.”
  • Jessica Bufkin  “And I need to lean on this hope despite the huge disappointment. I pray that the actions taken so far would not be a waste of time, energy, and money.” I don’t think serving others for Kingdom purposes is ever wasted. Grateful for the hope we have that He is near and He hears and sees us, and praying for clarity for all of you.”
  • Michael Shaw  “What keeps me going? Debby, Family, friends, faith, a miracle of God, taking each day one day at a time.

    I hope the elderly woman you wrote about gets the help she needs and deserves.

    I have a thought for you my friend from my perspective, which I know is somewhat different.

    It is true that in this world there is poverty that is almost completely beyond help, despair that is beyond help, illness that is beyond help, loneliness and isolation that are beyond help, and evil that cannot be rectified, or at least easily.

    There is no bottom to human need. It is infinite. But think about this: If it were not like this, there would be no faith in God, because the world would be finite. We humans could solve all our own problems and have no reason for faith in God.

    Even as reality is, there are a lot of nonbelievers.

    So there is a blessing in this endless, infinite need. It establishes our need for God and enables us to reach out to Him.”

  • Kathy Krueger  “If your goal has been to serve ‘the least of these’ with the sacrificial love of Christ, being His hands and His feet, then nothing has been wasted. What is a sacrifice after all? What is worship? They took the best lambs and instead of feeding the hungry with them they ‘wasted’ them by burning them on the altar, just as the woman ‘wasted’ the expensive perfume by pouring it on Jesus’ feet. Nothing poured at Jesus’ feet is ever wasted.”
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    ddkays  “God and prayer…couldn’t do a thing without it!”
  • David Ramos “Beautiful explanation of MLK’s quote. For me – vitamins and prayer, that’s what keep me moving.

    Hope your prayers are answered!”

  • Tammy Helfrich  “It will not be a wasted effort. You never know how God will use what you’ve all done.”

Ice Breaker – King or Queen for the Day

Each week on The Stretched Blog, we ask an ice breaker question.  The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community.  I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments.  While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.

This week’s question is somewhat inspired by my experience with Servefest this week.  Make your answer fun or serious.  Let’s here some great ideas!

Question:  If you were king or queen for the day, what rule, law, or policy would you decree?

My Answer:  This question could go in all kinds of different directions which could be a little scary.  Here’s my answer which is not meant to side with one side or the other of the political spectrum.  I would create a reward system of some type for businesses which promote community involvement.  There is so much power available in the companies of the world.  Look at what happened with the Extreme Makeover Home Edition where Sears, CVS, Siemens, and several other sponsors worked together to build homes for families in need.  If companies were serious about providing resources (including manpower and material resources) to help the community, it would be amazing to see what would happen in the land.  As I’m learning this week, it wouldn’t only impact the recipient; it would also help those in the companies (the employees) at they worked together to make a difference.  And that is what I would do if I were king for the day.

There you have it – my answer.  Now, it’s your turn.  Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment.  I look forward to reading your response!

Finite Disappointment, Infinite Hope

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Over the past four days, I’ve been working with a team of people to clean up and empty out the home of an elderly woman in our community.  Each night this week, a team of 12-20 eager volunteers have arrived at the home ready to work.  They’ve put everything they have into this project, and they’ve remarkably emptied the main floor of 2 1/2 dumpsters full of trash.  It’s amazing what can be done when good people work together.

What has been challenging to me especially over the past two nights is the revelation of how bad things still are for this woman and her home.  As we’ve emptied rooms, we’ve discovered mold and mildew beyond anyone’s imagination.  And last night, a few of us journeyed into the basement to discover conditions that I can hardly describe without crying or vomiting.  She has been sleeping in this basement which is full of mold, trash, and raw sewage.

It became quite apparent last night that we had taken this project to a point that goes far beyond the scope that a team of untrained volunteers can handle.  On one hand, I’m so grateful for the powerful force of willing volunteers to get this project to this point.  And on the other hand, I feel so sad and over my head to realize that we may not be able to do much more right now to restore this woman’s home to a safe and healthy living environment.

So where do we go from here?  It’s a great question for which I don’t know the answer.  I know that there is still hope.  And I need to lean on this hope despite the huge disappointment.  I pray that the actions taken so far would not be a waste of time, energy, and money.  I pray that this woman’s life would be changed forever because of what has taken place this week.  I pray for the neighbors that they may know Christ’s love because of the actions taken this week.  And I pray for those who volunteered that they would live their lives differently because of what they saw this week.  Please pray for these things and for direction as we discern how to proceed from here.  Thanks!

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:8-18

That’s all I’ve got.  What keeps you going?

Store Up…Collecting Things That Matter

This week, our church is intersecting with our community through a week-long Servefest.  Our family is helping out with Project HEARTH.  You can read some of my thoughts in yesterday’s post.  Tons of progress was made last night!  I’m excited to see what we’ll be able to accomplish by working together this week.

If you couldn’t figure it out, the woman we are helping is a hoarder.  I haven’t seen the TV show, Hoarders, but I’m quite confident that this home would easily fit in with the show.  I did some research yesterday to learn more about hoarding.  According to Wikipedia,

Compulsive hoarding (or pathological collecting) is a pattern of behavior that is characterized by the excessive acquisition of and inability or unwillingness to discard large quantities of objects that would seemingly qualify as useless or without value. Compulsive hoarding behavior has been associated with health risks, impaired functioning, economic burden, and adverse effects on friends and family members. When clinically significant enough to impair functioning, hoarding can prevent typical uses of space so as to limit activities such as cooking, cleaning, moving through the house, and sleeping. It can also be dangerous if it puts the individual or others at risk for fire, falling, poor sanitation, and other health concerns.


For more information on compulsive hoarding, click here.  The woman we are helping fits the description very closely.

It’s been a challenge to get this woman and her home out of my head.  I keep wondering how someone could let it get to this level.  I keep asking why there aren’t people in her life to help.

One thing this woman collects is yarn.  She has enough yarn to make sweaters for all the students at our local elementary school.  As we were talking with her last night, you could tell she had a “relationship” with her yarn.  I realize this is part of her behavior (perhaps illness), but it got me thinking (of course).

What am I holding onto in this life?  What do I collect?  My wife often gives me a hard time about all the books that I get through the mail.  I still have all my baseball cards (roughly 30,000 of them).  I have several years worth of Runner’s World and Handyman Magazine.

I’m not a hoarder, but it’s easy to go after the wrong thing – to hold onto things that won’t last.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about collecting things that matter.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matthew 6:19-21

Over the past couple of days, we have literally seen the destruction of stuff by moths, worms, and other “vermin.”  I don’t want to get to the end of my life only to hear “Jon had the biggest and best baseball card collection” or “I loved Jon’s collection of books.”  I want to collect things that matter.  The only thing I can take from here that really matters is people.  What am I doing on a daily basis to store up treasures in heaven?  This is a question worth pursuing!

What do you collect?  What are you hoarding?

[NOTE:  If you live in the area and could lend a hand, we need people who can work inside and outside her home – cleaning, painting, doing repairs, and doing yard work.  If we could find roofing material, gutters, and carpenters, we would put a new roof on her house.  If we could get chainsaws, brush hogs, and lawn mowers, we would overhaul her yard.  We could also use dumpsters.  If anyone know how and where we could get free dumpsters, let me know.  We are scratching the surface this week, but hopefully we will leave a dent that lasts for an eternity.]

Servefest Starts – Whatever You Do For The Least Of These…

Servefest kicked off yesterday.  Our family worked with several other people serving an elderly woman in our community through Project HEARTH, an organization focused on helping the elderly to stay in their homes as long as possible.  From what I understand, Project HEARTH matches elderly people in need of assistance at their homes with people and groups willing to lend a hand.

Without going into too much detail, our team showed up at 2PM yesterday ready to work.  We didn’t know a lot of information, but we were told we needed gloves and dust masks to help clean out the home of a woman in our community.  What happened when we showed up is way too much to put into words.  The inside of the house was literally piled with “stuff” 2-3 feet in all floor spaces (and even higher in some places) – and no, I’m not exaggerating at all.

It was overwhelming.  It was shocking.  It was sad.

How could someone let this happen?  How is it that no one offered to help before – or maybe she didn’t accept the help?  Why doesn’t she have any family or friends?

At first, I was honestly disgusted.  Some of the stuff we discovered was pretty gross (again, I’m keeping the details limited).  But as the afternoon went along, the passage from Matthew 25 kept coming to my mind.  We had a chance to serve a woman who clearly had a need.  Hopefully, we are making a difference in our life.  But according to the Bible, we’re also serving Christ – we’re cleaning out His house.  Thinking this way brought a sense of peace to my mind as we spent the afternoon packaging up piles of trash.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

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

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-36

I’ve driven by this woman’s house many times, but I never knew what was inside.  We often live that way.  We are like horses with blinders on.  We focus on what lies ahead on OUR path.  It’s all about ME – it’s all about what I want to accomplish – it’s all about MY agenda.  We need to take off the blinders, so we can realize that there are people all around us who need help.  We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  When we serve others in need, we are serving Jesus.

Yesterday, our team made a dent in the project, but there is still so much to do.  Each day, we will have a team working on this home.  Monday through Friday, there will be a team there from 6PM – 9PM.  And Saturday (10/27), we’ll be there all day.  There’s plenty to do, and we’d love your help.  For more information, click here.  Also, feel free to leave me a comment expressing your interest, and I’ll see what I can do to help you.  Thanks!

How can you serve Christ in your community?  Do you have blinders on that need to be removed?  Seriously, what are you going to do about it in the next two weeks?  How will you make a difference in someone’s life today?

Servefest Fall 2012

For all of you who live in the Perkiomen Valley area (or those who are close by), Servefest Fall 2012 starts tomorrow and runs through next Saturday.  This week-long event is an opportunity to connect with the community and serve others.  Throughout the week, volunteers have the opportunity to team up with others to work on a project in and around the Greater Perkiomen Valley area.  Here’s a list of who/where/how we are serving with this week:

For more information about how to get involved, click here.  This is a great way to work alongside others to make a dent in our community.

(Our family will be working on the Project Hearth project starting Sunday afternoon.  We’ll be there Tuesday night and next Saturday as well.  Hope to see you there!)