eyes to see
This past Thursday night, I sent out the following email to many in our faith community at Denver Community Church.
Today I received a phone call at our building from a woman named Diane. She is trying to move out of her apartment and into a new one. The place she is living in now is run over with mildew, and mold. Bottom line, she needs to get out. Here is the problem she is having. She does not have a driver's license. Therefore, she cannot rent a truck, so she cannot move. So she called me today to ask if there was any way someone with a license could help her out. I took down her information and said, "Yeah, let me see what I can do to help." I heard nothing on the other end, and it became very quiet. I waited, and then said, "Hello?"
Diane was choked up and said, "No one has ever told me they would help me before."
I was stoked. So here is my thought ... rather than drive her around a little, what would it look like if a faith community helped her move?!? I spoke with her tonight, and she would love to be able to move by Sunday. I know this is last minute, but I thought we could gather together and then head off to "Moving Day 2007." If you are willing to come and move some furniture, drive a truck, and have a back slappin' good time serving someone, please reply as soon as you are able if you are interested.
A few days later a large group from our faith community showed up at Diane’s apartment to load up her belongings in our cars, SUV’s, and pickup trucks and move them to her beautiful new apartment.
The morning before I sent that email I came across a quote from Mother Theresa. Throughout her life many people contacted her and wanted to travel to Calcutta to serve alongside her and the sisters of Missionaries of Charity. She was known to say “Calcuttas area everywhere if only we have eyes to see.” I read that, and paused for a moment. I said out loud, “God give us eyes to see.” An hour or so later, the phone on my desk rang and it was Diane. As she was speaking I heard, “Do you see?”
Diane’s response floored me. Just saying, “Yeah, let me see what I can do to help,” induced tears from this woman who had a need. When I called her to tell her that a group was coming to help her move she cried again, and said, “I love whoever created you all.” Fast forward to “Moving Day 2007.” When I met Diane, she gave me a huge hug, and with tears in her eyes said to all of us, “Thank you, thank you all so much … you have no idea.” Her words trailed off as tears fell from her eyes. She made my week.
It was so great. There were no committees that met to decide if this was something we could do. No money was raised for a missions project. There was not a church-moving program created to handle this. There was just a group of willing men and women who had eyes to see the need, and without any fanfare did what needed to be done.
As we moved the last box into Diane’s beautiful new apartment, and helped get the day-bed into the right spot she gave more hugs to everyone. Then she said, “Now you make sure you come back around Thanksgiving for some sweet-potato pie! Then she asked me for our church’s address. As I wrote it down for her, she said, “I want to send you my tithe so you can keep on helping people.” I smiled and in that moment knew that Diane also had eyes to see.
Today I received a phone call at our building from a woman named Diane. She is trying to move out of her apartment and into a new one. The place she is living in now is run over with mildew, and mold. Bottom line, she needs to get out. Here is the problem she is having. She does not have a driver's license. Therefore, she cannot rent a truck, so she cannot move. So she called me today to ask if there was any way someone with a license could help her out. I took down her information and said, "Yeah, let me see what I can do to help." I heard nothing on the other end, and it became very quiet. I waited, and then said, "Hello?"
Diane was choked up and said, "No one has ever told me they would help me before."
I was stoked. So here is my thought ... rather than drive her around a little, what would it look like if a faith community helped her move?!? I spoke with her tonight, and she would love to be able to move by Sunday. I know this is last minute, but I thought we could gather together and then head off to "Moving Day 2007." If you are willing to come and move some furniture, drive a truck, and have a back slappin' good time serving someone, please reply as soon as you are able if you are interested.
A few days later a large group from our faith community showed up at Diane’s apartment to load up her belongings in our cars, SUV’s, and pickup trucks and move them to her beautiful new apartment.
The morning before I sent that email I came across a quote from Mother Theresa. Throughout her life many people contacted her and wanted to travel to Calcutta to serve alongside her and the sisters of Missionaries of Charity. She was known to say “Calcuttas area everywhere if only we have eyes to see.” I read that, and paused for a moment. I said out loud, “God give us eyes to see.” An hour or so later, the phone on my desk rang and it was Diane. As she was speaking I heard, “Do you see?”
Diane’s response floored me. Just saying, “Yeah, let me see what I can do to help,” induced tears from this woman who had a need. When I called her to tell her that a group was coming to help her move she cried again, and said, “I love whoever created you all.” Fast forward to “Moving Day 2007.” When I met Diane, she gave me a huge hug, and with tears in her eyes said to all of us, “Thank you, thank you all so much … you have no idea.” Her words trailed off as tears fell from her eyes. She made my week.
It was so great. There were no committees that met to decide if this was something we could do. No money was raised for a missions project. There was not a church-moving program created to handle this. There was just a group of willing men and women who had eyes to see the need, and without any fanfare did what needed to be done.
As we moved the last box into Diane’s beautiful new apartment, and helped get the day-bed into the right spot she gave more hugs to everyone. Then she said, “Now you make sure you come back around Thanksgiving for some sweet-potato pie! Then she asked me for our church’s address. As I wrote it down for her, she said, “I want to send you my tithe so you can keep on helping people.” I smiled and in that moment knew that Diane also had eyes to see.