I like to help people. But I have to admit, most of the time I'm pretty lazy. And most of the time I walk around with my head down to the needs around me. So I wanted to say thank you to Steve Sokoly and the Compassion Restoration Ministry for getting me off my lazy rear and picking my head up.
Compassion Restoration is a ministry that helps those who need a helping hand. They've completed several projects and I've always thought, "oh that's so good they are doing that." Recently they took on a huge project, the residents of a trailer park in our county were being threatened with eviction if they could not get their trailers to pass an inspection. I'm not sure how many of the folks needed help, but Steve Sokoly and his team were passionate about making sure that none of these families would be asked to leave. He put the call out on Facebook and I thought about going out last weekend and helping. But I decided instead to go to the movies instead. I spent the whole day at Potomac Mills wandering around. So while many, many people were blessing others, I was spending some time with a friend (a good thing) but the majority of the day I just wandered aimlessly by myself.
Well earlier this week I got an e-mail from my friend Margy encouraging people to help. There was still much to be done and the deadline for these people to get their homes up to snuff was looming large. So yesterday afternoon when I left the house to run some errands and get a haircut, I packed some grubby clothes with the thought that I "might" go over and see what I could do. Thankfully my friend Christine was going as well, that gave me the courage to actually drive my car in that direction after I had taken care of my errands. Boy, am I glad I did.
This is a community I've driven past a number of times, off one of the country roads here in Stafford county. There's probably 40 or so trailers in this space. It brought back memories of visiting my sister when she lived in a trailer park. As I drove up a number of folks were outside painting on their homes. I found my friend helping a young woman paint out in the heat. I found out that the young woman was the mother to five children under the age of seven, including 2 year old twins that had been born 2 months premature. As I asked her about her family and her husband, hearing about how he worked two jobs in order to keep them in this simple home, it reminded me of how hard life can be. Christine gently asked her about church and Jesus and found a young woman who had been judged for her choices and her habits by church before and really was confused about what it meant to be a Christian. She was I would say a truly good person: she was kind to us and grateful for our help, she was attentive to her children, worked hard to provide the best life for them she could, taught her children to say please and thank you. Sadly I think she believes that all her "doing" will please God, and it does, but it still doesn't erase the fact that without Jesus she's still going to miss the mark. We invited her to church, and she gave us a list of reasons why she found it hard to get there. We tried to answer every objection and I hope that she will decide to go, even if it's only as a "thank you" to us. Who knows how God is working.
Then when Christine left, Cindy showed up and we started to work on another trailer. That was when I got the joy of meeting Juanita. Juanita, it seems, is the lady who got this whole project started. She went to the doctor shortly after been given this laundry list of things she had to accomplish in order to not be evicted and simply fell apart in the waiting room. It "just so happened" that a woman whose husband is involved with the Compassion Restoration Ministry was a nurse in this office (coincidence...I think not) and heard about the plight of Juanita and so many others in this community. She told Juanita, "I want to help you." Juanita told me that she was shocked. They exchanged information and that's how the whole project got started. Juanita's a scrappy lady, she's probably in her fifties and reminded me of the lady who would be your favorite person working at the school cafeteria. She cares a lot about her neighbors and can barely talk about how grateful she is for the help without tearing up. She told me that they used to go to church all the time, that they were from Lynchburg and had at one time been a part of Thomas Road. But, she said it's easy to fall out of going and I agreed with her. She talked about trying to come to MABC one Sunday.
When Cindy and I set to work on the trailer we were painting, Juanita's daughter and the girl across the street came over to help us. The girl (who had painted her trailer purple!) said, "You know, you all have done so much for me, let me help you do this. I have to help you do this." That gave Cindy a wonderful chance to chat with the girls as I listened and prayed from the other end of the trailer. Cindy got to share about our church, tell them service times, and to invite them to the women's ministry event in September.
As the dusk turned to night, they bought us popsicles and we got to chat a little more as we cleaned up. As I walked back to my car, paint spattered and weary from working out in the heat, I couldn't help but smile from the inside out and say "thank you" to God. A little paint does go a long way. It opened a door to encourage a hard-working and weary young mother, confused about how to please God. It reminded a middle-aged lady that there are still people out there that care about others and that maybe, just maybe it's time to return to the church of her younger days. It showed two young women that church is full of real people who care about other people. It reminded me that it's too easy to turn into myself and spend time aimlessly, that there is a purpose that we're all called to -- LOVE. And that love can look like paint on a trailer.
So Saturday afternoon instead of going back to the place I'm housesitting and sitting by their gorgeous pool all afternoon, I'm going to pull on those grubbies and head back out to see Juanita and the people of Hidden Lane. Hope to see you there.
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