Psalm 70
70:1 Make haste, O God, to deliver me!O Lord, make haste to help me!2 Let them be put to shame and confusionwho seek my life!Let them be turned back and brought to dishonorwho delight in my hurt!3 Let them turn back because of their shamewho say, “Aha, Aha!”4 May all who seek yourejoice and be glad in you!May those who love your salvationsay evermore, “God is great!”5 But I am poor and needy;hasten to me, O God!You are my help and my deliverer;O Lord, do not delay!
Last summer there was an urgent plea for an adult male to go on the Junior High Mission trip. Without a male volunteer, the youth would not get to go. So, I told the Youth Pastor, Kevin, that I would go.
My wife’s mouth dropped. “Dickey Freeman with junior high youth in South Texas in July? No way.”
But I knew the Lord wanted me to go.
The week before the trip, my old friend, the kidney stone, attacked. I was in pain from Sunday afternoon to Thursday morning, barely able to walk much less pack and get my work done around the house. Then Friday I woke up without pain. Kidney stones usually move around on me for a better position to send a barrage of pain until I can finally pass them. But my wife had been praying and the kids from our church wouldn’t be able to attend unless I went; so I packed my bags and headed to Houston.
Our mission was to do much-needed repairs for some families in that area. Our client lived in Texas City. The group was divided and I had a crew of new kids, 6 twelve and thirteen year-olds and two young adult men who didn’t have experience in construction. Our task was to build a new 12X14 foot deck with a ramp, tear down and put up new kitchen cabinets, remodel the bathroom and replace the flooring in both bath and kitchen in four days.
When we drove up to the site I looked at the stack of supplies delivered to our site. The only thing that came to mind at seeing that mountain of work was the Country Western song,” Jesus, Take the Wheel.”
I thought we would share our faith with the family, but our client was an amazing, beautiful soul who raised our spirits with each smile. It was difficult working around all of her children, grandchildren and extended family that she had taken in to raise. I think there was over twelve in all. At first the children shied away from us, but by the end of the week they were so mixed in we just became one big family.
We worked non-stop except to laugh and eat lunch with the family, sing, laugh and play most of the night and wake-up early to do it again the next day. On the last day I wasn’t sure we would make it. But my teenage crew pulled through, even the one that said, “I don’t really like to work.” A twelve year old girl even put together a huge porch swing all by herself. I screwed in the last screw as our time was up. The miracle wasn’t that we finished an amazing task. It wasn’t the fact these kids did amazing work. Nor was it the fact an old man didn’t collapse in the middle of the week. The miracle was the relationships that we developed.
I sat in church on Sunday morning energized by the working of our Lord. I looked at Kevin, and the kids, knowing that they too understood the awe I felt. Then in the middle of George’s sermon the pain hit. I broke out in a sweat and shortly after church and passed a kidney stone about the size of a matchstick head. The pain wasn’t too bad. Nothing could erase the joy of the week I had experienced. I’m hoping to go again.
Thank you, Lord, for taking the wheel. Help us let go. To call on your name, to seek You and then may we always rejoice and be glad in what You do for us.
Dickey Freeman
