For months my dad had commented on the magnitude of the project, and how he doubted we would have time to get it done at the reunion.  This was gonna take a lot of muscle…

My parents like to heat their home with firewood, which works well because they live in a densely wooded area of Tennessee, and have access to trees that have been knocked over by storms, etc.  Some friends had three gigantic oak trees that were down on their property.  Would my dad want to come cut them up and haul them away?  Sure!  But he’s 82, and that’s a lot of work.  It would probably take him weeks to get it done on his own!

With the family was coming in a couple months, I assured him we could knock it out in a day with all the siblings, in-laws, and adolescent nephews.  We started early on Tuesday morning.  There were probably twelve guys in all, some as young as 10.  And the total time it took to drive to the site, load the trailer full of logs that measured over two feet across, return and unload: about 30 minutes.  In less than two hours we knocked out three loads and headed to the second site.  Before 11:00 a.m. we had made three trips to the second site, towed ourselves out of the mud, and finished the entire project.  At least a winter’s worth of firewood ready to be split, and it wasn’t even lunchtime!

Now none of us were superman.  We were simply working together.  The lesson from the family reunion is this:

Observation #2: Family reunions are where ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things when they work together.

The church is a family.  And we have regular reunions.  And when ordinary people like us come together under the direction and mission of God, we can accomplish extraordinary things!  Here’s an example.  We’re hosting a backpack giveaway for under-resourced kids in our community.  We want to provide at least 500 filled backpacks.  We have well over 500 households that are part of Seneca Creek.  If every home just provided one backpack (approximate cost = $20) we’d meet our goal.  Many of us would like to do more.  What can we accomplish in this one area?  We can provide a school year’s worth of hope.  And we can get it done before the school year even starts!

Please consider being part of this HOPE filled project.  We’ll be collecting supplies and donations for two more weekends.  It’s not too late!

-Pastor Mark

P.S. For more family reunion lessons, see last week’s blog, Observation #1: Family reunions remind us of what we have in common.