s.n.o.w.

I love snow. Flakey snow, wet snow, slushy snow, any kind of snow, I love it all. I especially love that heavy wet snow that makes killer snow balls. It’s the best. It also happens to be what God blessed Greenville with tonight. And He blessed us with a ton of it.

I’d heard that we might get snow. But really, it’s March. In South Carolina. And the weathermen lie…a lot. Snow. Riiight. Imagine my surprise when, half hour after I get to church, people are coming in telling me its snowing. Yeah, I was one of those loons who ran outside with my cell phone to take a picture of it. (Remember, it’s South Carolina. Sometimes it’ll “snow” here and five minutes later its pouring and the only proof you had that there was actually snow was that one cell phone pic that someone posted on twitter of the 2 flakes that hit their backyard. I had to have proof. It could be the only snow I’d see this year.)

But because God is awesome, I walked outside into a winter wonderland after the service. There were a couple of snowball fights, cars PILED high with snow. Awesome. Talk about a brilliant display of God’s glory. It was beautiful…well the snow-covered trees more so than the slush-covered parking lot…but you get the drift (pun not intended, lol).

By the time I trudged across the parking lot to my car, my feet were completely wet, my toes were numb, and my pants were wet up to the knees. I have one of those handy dandy snow scraper/brush things to clean off my car. But, it’s March, in SC, so I kept it in the best place I could think of…the storage closet at home. By the time I used my hands to clean off my car, I was soaked. I even thought I might lose a pinkie or something to frost bite. It was touch-and-go for a while there. Just kidding. But it was cold and wet. I know, that’s sort of part and parcel with snow, but I’ve got a point. I’m getting to it. I swear.

And as I was cleaning my car off, I was looking around the lot and saw SO many cars just stuck in the snow, rolling down the small hills at each of the lot’s two exits. And then I saw something more amazing, the volunteers on the Newspring Parking Crew. Some of these guys were wearing nothing more than jeans and a light jacket. And in teams of 3 and 4, they were pushing car, after car, after SUV, after car up those hills and out of the parking lot. I saw a couple of the guys fall while they were pushing cars. They were all totally soaked from head to foot. Not complaining. Smiling the whole time.

I’ve never in my life personally experienced a more brilliant display of Christ working through people like I did tonight. It taught me a lesson I don’t think I’ll ever forget. At least, it’s my prayer tonight that I’m consistently reminded of their great example every time I try to think the world is about Jen.

I made my way through the line of cars waiting to exit. There was a Rav-4 in front of me. Four guys were pushing it up the hill. And then, when the coast was clear, I began to inch up the hill. The parking guys flanked my car; two on either side, just waiting to jump behind me and push me out of the lot if I needed the help. Fortunately, my car is a beast and I made it just fine. When I got to the top of the hill, the same four guys, who’d followed me up the hill all smiled, waved good-bye, and wished me a good night. Wow.

And as I slowly made my way home, I thought about the actions of those volunteers and I felt about an inch tall. I’ve been struggling with pride, unrest, dissatisfaction, and maybe a little bit of anger too. I think I learned more from the parking guys than I did Perry tonight (and the sermon was amazing, so this is saying something).

I drove home and thought about:

• How many times have we felt like we were stuck in a pit, trying to claw our way out, when all we needed was a little push? A little help, without expectation or judgment or condemnation. It’s hard to get support like that. I’d argue that it’s even harder to give support like that. It can be really, really difficult to push someone up, especially when we want so badly to give our input, whether it’s wanted or not. I thought about some of the times recently when I’ve been faced with an opportunity to give my two cents or shut up. Some of those times I was successful, other times, well, not so much. I thought I had it under control on Friday, yet today, I was failing miserably again. I have to keep remembering that it’s not about me.
• I’ve been struggling some with my own volunteer position. I want to come to church every Sunday SO excited to do whatever it takes…like push cars and SUVs uphill in the slushy snow with a light coat on and smile the whole way through it. I want to show people how excited I am to serve them. I’ve been lacking enthusiasm for a long time now, and I realized tonight how not ok that is. And to add insult to injury, the whole thing just amplified this bad exchange I had with one of my own volunteers this morning. I’ve got so much to learn.
• All the time at Newspring they tell us how our roles make a difference to the people who come in the doors, how we’ll never really realize our full impact to the people we’re serving. Tonight was the first time I was so profoundly impacted by the actions of a volunteer (or seven). I was quickly reminded that if I’m going to represent my church as a volunteer, I need to be far more conscious of the simple things, like a smile or hello. I learned a major lesson in humility.

I learned a lot from the snow tonight…like how much I still have to learn. And, to the Newspring parking guys, thank you for being and amazing example of what I need to work towards. I hope someone blessed you all with dry socks and hot cocoa.

~ by jenchall on March 2, 2009.