Saturday, time to rest

I woke up on Saturday and headed to the store. We wanted to eat in for at least breakfast, so I went to purchase things. Prices were so crazy, $40 of groceries here cost $96 down there. The one thing I will not forget about the trip was Lucy. She was this little old lady in her 70's or 80's. I don't have a problem with the older generation working-if it is done from a social aspect, but I can't stand it when it is a necessity for them to live. So Lucy says that she is taking my groceries out to my car, I tell her that she doesn't need to do that-she responds "It's my job, I guess it is my penitence from sinning". As we head to the car she explains that she and her husband moved to Florida 15 years ago (from New York), he passed away a few years ago-but she is still stuck in Florida. She cant afford to make it back to New York. Did you know that SSN only pays you one check when someone dies, the larger check-but only one. Before I knew it I gave her money and walked back to my car. Then I heard her voice and she was walking towards me and she is crying. All I hear is God Bless you, and I think to myself 'He already has, I just saw Him in Lucy's eye's'. My heart broke for Lucy, and I still wonder whats going on with her.

There are hundreds maybe thousands who go to Orlando for Vacation. Some people are so stressed out that don't seem to be enjoying themselves. To my right is one lady know as "GD Lady" who needs to take a vacation without her children. She made her crying son go to the shallow area to swim, he of course wanted to go into the deep end. Then she has her daughter swim in the deep end. The kids are in the water less than 5 min, before she yells "GD we are out of here, I cant watch you both on opposite ends of the pool". This was not her first time saying "GD", but I got a good picture of her in her prime. There were plenty of other "stressed" parents showing their true colors, but 'GD' really stood out.

LeARninG this blogging stuff

Forgot to put some pictures on the post below so here they are.

Long time

It has been a long time since I posted anything on here. I start a lot of things, it's finishing them I have a little problem with. Another thing I haven't done in a "Long Time" is take a break, a little vacation.

This past weekend I headed down to Orlando with a few friends (Brandon and Cyrus). They really made the trip, and also made me relax and not look at emails. The place we stayed at was a nice condo on a 150 acre resort. After checking in we hit Chick-Fillet (since I don't eat there enough here at home) and headed to Magic Kingdom for the Joy Fest concert. David Crowder, Chris Tomlin and Third Day played that night with an hour break in between, which was plenty of time for us to check out the park. Cyrus has a motion sickness issue, which became more of an issue later in the trip than the first night, but it didn't become and issue with "It's a small world". I think the ride that made us all sick was something with "stitch" in it, a little nasty creature. The ride was great until this little guy eats a chili dog and burped, which they then blew something into our faces. That was enough to loose dinner, but no one did. Chris Tomlin and David Crowder were great, Third day was just alright. We got back to the condo around 1:00am after leaving Grumpy 186.

Why Hands

When I was thinking of a title, it took about 5 seconds before Hands came to mind. I sat down a little over a year ago and wanted to come up with a name for my company. Helping others and wanting to show God through my work is where I started and before I knew it His Helping Hands was born. Lending a helping hand to show Jesus to those around me.

Now onto the purpose of this Blog....

I just got back from our Mississippi Mission Trip this past Saturday. It was a neat experience with a lot of stress. 25 students and 11 adults traveled down to Canton, MS to experience the south along the lines of racial reconciliation. While we were down there we ran an outdoor VBS and a work crew replaced the roof on Ms. Jackson's house. Out of all the years that I have been to this area for mission trips, this roof has been the worse one I have seen. Normal roofs up here are 16" on center with 5/8 or 3/4" plywood. Every house I have worked on down there are 24" on center with 3/8" plywood. Another way to put it, watch where you step if not you could be sitting on the couch next to the homeowner. But Ms. Jackson's house had no plywood, rather she had 1 x6 pieces of wood. So there were gaps between each board, rotted pieces and even pieces that were never there. Ms. Jackson was probably in her late 50's or early 60's and was paralyzed from the waist down so she was bed ridden. This made the situation even worse as the roof leaked and came through the ceiling on top of her. The work crew was by far one of the best we had. The other adults might not have had the experience before they arrived, but they all picked it up quickly. The students also did an amazing job and we did get the roof finished. On the last day in Canton, the entire team goes around to all the homes that we worked on singing and praying for the homeowner. We also leave a small planter of flowers. Have you ever had those moments that are so clear to you that you feel Jesus in the same room with you. The team experienced that with Ms. Jackson, her response to the work we did, the singing and praying for her along with the planter of flowers. That moment was one that we all will never forget.

As I think back to the stress of the trip, I also remember that moment and it makes it all worth it.

This will either be my only post, or just the beginning

It seems that everyone has a blog, so I thought that it's time for me to start one. I joined facebook.com back in December 2006-so now on with this piece of technology.

This really isn't my first Blog that I created, just the first one for me! Debbie Shaffer, an adult leader for Senior High, came to me asking for help in creating one after she was diagnosed with Cancer. She felt this would be a great way to keep in touch with those who wanted updates on where she was with her fight. A quick update with that, she is winning the fight against cancer. She just joined us down in Mississippi this past week with our mission trip.

I have been wanting to start a Blog for a while now, so like the title says if it is my only post then I am done. Since I don't want it to be done.............I need to add a second post.