After working a good part of the day Tuesday, we managed to find out way over to the Tuscaloosa Vineyard Community Church. I'd been loosely connected with them by my former pastor in Augusta, and we wanted to just check in, say hello, and see if we could somehow serve them. What ended up happening however, was altogether unexpected.
After initial introductions were made, Amy (the administrator) says, "Where are you guys going to be staying?" We honestly didn't know, and said so. The night prior, we'd been blessed by a family from St. Matthias who allowed us to stay in their RV, but things were sort of up in the air. I wasn't worried by any means; if worse came to worse, we could sleep in the car. :-)
But Amy wouldn't hear of it, and got on the phone and posted a request on the church's facebook page.
Within a couple of hours (during which time I took a nap on the oh so comfortable floor of the church) she'd found us a host family, who was willing to accomodate our entire group.
Meeting Sam and Kathy was like meeting old friends after having been apart for a while. They were warm and gracious and incredibly accomodating. They tolerated our clomping boots late in the evening and early in the morning, and made sure we felt welcome at every single turn.
These people are absolutely the epitome Wimber's vision of "doing the stuff." There are a hundred good reasons they could have said no, but they chose to say "yes." Their home was our sanctuary; the safe, secure place to return to at the end of the day. The place where the images that tormented us throughout the day could be laid aside at least for a while.
Though we went to Tuscaloosa to be the rescuers, Sam and Kathy were assuredly just as much ours.
No comments:
Post a Comment