Tommy walked in with probably the most technical skills and the least amount of attitude. He also was the resident chowhound researcher for the trip. Here are some excerpts from his thoughts
Feeling His pleasure.
My one line quote for our support letter was, “I’m looking forward to experiencing a new part of God’s kingdom and hopefully ‘feel His pleasure’.” I definitely “felt His pleasure,” but not quite in the way I imagined. In the movie “Chariots of Fire,” the main character Eric Liddell says,” I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.”
I thought I would feel His pleasure when I was using some of my construction skills, but that literally didn’t happen until the very last hour. Instead throughout the week I was struck by the reality of one of John Wooden’s quotes: “It’s amazing how much work can get done when nobody cares about who gets the credit.” Time and again I sensed God smiling as He saw ten guys working vigorously towards a common goal; like a basketball coach delighting to see his team selflessly sharing the ball on offense and actively helping each other on defense.
Thursday night or early Friday morning I sensed the Lord reminding me of Pastor Ron’s desire that we be in prayer throughout our workday. Pastor Ron actually got down on the ground, laid his hands on our feet and prayed that God would use our feet to bring blessings to those in Mississippi.
I realized that the first four days I had been so caught up in the construction phase that I hadn’t taken any time to pray over the house, its future occupants, my teammates or the other people we came in contact with throughout the day. So I asked God to remind me to pray during the last day. And so through the Lord’s prompting, I prayed many times, mostly five to ten second blessings and more than a few times wiped away sweat and tears together. The source of the sweat was obvious, the tears a little less. I think they mostly came from an overwhelming sense of privilege of being used by God towards furthering His kingdom, privileged to be on a team with such a single-minded obedience of serving God and privileged to be part of a larger body that sends out and fully supports teams of people to help fulfill the great commission.
If I were to personalize Liddell’s quote it would be, “I believe God made me for a purpose, and He also made me a part of EBCSGV. And when I am able to obediently serve with others in the body I feel His pleasure.”
Tommy’s Router Video