Training is over, campers will be coming so very soon, and my summer "job" is in full swing. I say "job" because this is one of the most amazing experiences I've ever been involved in. To fill you in, here is a little story straight from my journal on one our home visiting days. The name of our waitress has been changed.
Today was amazing. Our morning started out extremely slow with only two visits before lunch. With our tummies requesting lunch, Mr. GPS offered many treats to satisfy my partner in crime, Caroline and me. We decided on what sounded like a local diner in a small town called Dobson, NC. To our dismay, Mr. GPS took us to a field. Luckily, on our way to the middle of no where, we passed a hole in the wall place simply called "DINER". We both agreed this was the place for us!
We placed a flier on the community board promoting CCC and then took a seat. Our waitress was very sweet and patient until we both decided to try the Philly Cheese Steak and homemade potato chips. Half way through our meal, our waitress came up and apologized for getting teary-eyed earlier. She explained that her son had died a year ago at the age of 19. Taken aback, both Caroline and I immediately said it was okay and that we were sorry. She smiled a sad smile, replied with thank you and walked away. I looked at Caroline and just told her we needed to pray for her. Caroline nodded quickly.
Soon after, we headed up to the register to pay for our meals. I caught the eye of our waitress in the back of the kitchen. She smiled, walked up, and said the classic," Thank you and ya'll come back!" I quickly told her I would. All of the sudden, this desire to know the name of our waitress came over me. I asked her, "What's your name?" She said, "I'm Donna." That wasn't enough for me. I told her that I was going to pray for her. Donna smiled her sad smile and thanked me again. It was then that Caroline walked up and immediately said, "I'm praying for you." She thanked Caroline too.
Still, that wasn't enough. I can't really use words to describe the emotions that flooded over me. The next thing I know, I'm asking Donna if we can pray with her now before we leave. Kind of to my surprise, Donna nodded quickly and ran around from behind the counter and scooped up both of our hands. Clinging to each other, we showered her with prayer in the middle of the hole-in-the-wall "DINER". She looked up and told us briefly that her son was on his way home for a cookout to celebrate his 19th birthday. Afterwards, all three of us misty-eyed girls exchanged hugs and we promised we'd be back soon.
Here we are, the task of the day being to visit as many houses as possible, hoping to change the lives of our homeowners. What we didn't realize is that even the people we randomly come in contact with can no only we touched but embraced. Our jobs as CCC staff never ends, but also our jobs as Christians never end.
Later that after noon, I was recounting the story to my mom. When I finished rambling on about my new friend, mom simply said," Maybe she was praying for an angle to come to her today, and rather she got two." I've been praying for God to use me and the staff as His vessel, and He did just that! Please pray for Donna. As you can imagine, losing a son would be devastating to a mom. Pray that she would feel comfort from the Lord. Pray that the Lord would move in her life.
Finally, continue to pray that the Lord will use all of the CCC Staff as vessels for His love, mercy, and work. That we would be Jesus with skin on.
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