On The Way Home

And just like that, it’s over.  We are now on our way home.

For devotions this morning, Marc Murphy, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Home spoke on 1 Corinthians 12 on spiritual gifts.  One thing about the kids with difficult backgrounds is that they are often told that they are worthless, that they don’t amount to anything. One of the aims of BGH is to let them know they are valued, and they do have gifts, just like the rest of us.

Then he opened the floor to questions.  He remarked that there are two notable things about the SOWER groups:  They get a lot of work done, and they ask a lot of questions.  We didn’t disappoint him on either count.

One of the aims of the SOWERs is to see the gospel proclaimed and we will support ministries that also have this as a primary goal.  So we grilled Marc on this topic.  If there was any doubt, his answers removed that doubt. It was good to see the passion for the kids and the staff and the commitment he has to see that these kids are exposed to the love of God and know about His saving grace for them.

The women worked in the thrift store today while the guys finished up some touch-up painting in the Lake House and the cafeteria.  Deb spent the time sorting and pricing fabric and was told there is one woman who will periodically come in and buy a few hundred dollar’s worth of fabric for quilting.  Most of the stuff she had priced and put on the shelves for the last couple of days was already gone.  The good stuff doesn’t stick around long.

After lunch our group leader, Ron, told me to do a little drywall fix-up in the Lake House so they can install some base trim.  The two other couples are there next month also so they are setting up for projects to do during the next month.  It took me about 20 minutes to get some drywall mud applied and smoothed out, then I biked back to the RV.

The rest of the group gathered around and we had a time of prayer before the two other guys returned to their work.  It’s always a little hard to say goodbye to these friends we’ve worked so closely with the last few weeks.  Perhaps we will meet them again on another project or maybe not until glory.  It will be ​here, there, or in the air​.

I loaded the bike, disconnected the electric and water, and dumped the waste tanks.  One last thing we did on the way out was to throw the blue jeans I was wearing in the dumpster.  We take the older clothes for use on projects like this and will simply leave them behind if they are no longer usable.  These jeans had a knee ripped out and paint all over them so they didn’t have to come home with us.

We rolled out at about 2pm and made very good time heading north on I-74 and I-77.  I normally don’t like traveling the Interstates, but they are appropriate if you want to get from here to there in the fastest way possible.  We shut down in a rest area near Rocky Gap, Virginia, having put on 315 miles.  A good start to the trip home.