Retail Work Day

This past Saturday, July 10th, I had my first full day working in action as retail director for this year's Heaven Fest. We gathered about 10 servant-hearted volunteers (praise the Lord for them!)and set about to a day of sorting, folding, banding, sorting some more, building, and painting.

I was a little less prepared than I wish I had been, but now I know better for the rest of my Heaven Fest experience - at least I have enough time to fix that before the day of and didn't have that happen on the day-of. Although, I'm sure a few things will come up that I wasn't prepared for. I've been sufficiently warned that they will:) But at least I can try! lol.

As we were loading boxes into the storage trailer at the church, I was struck with the thought of why we do Heaven Fest. Here is this group of people that, with the leading of the Holy Spirit of course, just decided, "Let's put on a Christian music festival!" and set out to accomplish an enormous amount of work to do so. Here is a group of people who are accomplishing not only the myriad administrative tasks necessary to put on Heaven Fest but also the manual labor - lifting boxes, preparing fields, hammering wood stakes, putting up fencing, building stages from scratch... it's mind boggling. It's a LOT of work.

And as I myself was participating in some of that work, I asked myself why they/we are going to so much work... and the simple answer was, "To share the love of the Lord." I was humbled by the amount of love it takes for a group of people to go to that much work to share the love of the Lord with people. I also realized the change in my heart, that it was the same reason I was doing it. That I am taking part in that. That I am now motivated by a sincere desire to minister to others with the love of the Lord as opposed to just living for myself and my own satisfaction. And that is a welcome, humbling, and fulfilling change for which I am so thankful to the Lord. There is no other place I'd rather be - figuratively, and literally.

Note: Please do not think that I am writing this just to sing my own praises. I come from a very selfish background, in which I spent the majority of my life as a Christian not wholeheartedly committing my life to him. But I've finally crossed the line of giving my whole life to Him, and the life on this side of the line is WELL worth it. I will never be going back!

I love you, Lord!