|
Every Day is Precious: Youth Mission Fest provides swinging solution
By ROB PAYNE
For Williamson A.M.
A couple of months ago, Lynda e-mailed me saying I didn't know her but she reads this column. The youth department of her church, Brentwood United Methodist, was looking to sponsor a Youth Mission Fest.
The object of the fest is for the young people to become involved with local mission projects rather than going out of the country. The youth group was making plans to be all over Williamson County and Nashville this summer helping shut-ins, working with Project Cure, Graceworks and other organizations.
Lynda asked me if one of her youth groups (with an adult sponsor) could help our family this summer. She had several creative suggestions: yard work, house work, meal preparation, letter writing, entertaining our kids and/or ''whatever would be helpful.''
Of course, my first reaction to her offer was driven by pride: ''No, that's OK, we're doing fine. We have lots of good people helping us.''
Even though we are blessed daily, I still think of the blessings from my side of the fence. It takes a kick in the head for me to remember that when we allow others to help us, they receive a blessing also. Fortunately, I am married, so I have a live-in helper when it comes to head kicking.
Before responding to Lynda, I read her e-mail to Marcy and she immediately had a project in mind: cleaning up our playground area. We have a couple of wooden swing sets in our back yard placed in an island of mulch. Nature has ravaged some there were weeds in the sandbox and throughout the mulch, the wood was looking weathered and one part was not really structurally sound.
But the destruction by a less-than-perfectly-supervised child made the damage worse. Our 10-year-old daughter Darcy and her friends had walking sticks strewn here and there, toys dragged out of the basement, and ropes and chains from the swings tied to miscellaneous sections of the swing set.
The youth group came and did a great facelift to the swing-set area. They put down new mulch, pulled the grass out of the sandbox and put down new sand, stained the wooden parts of the swing set the same color as our back deck, and reinforced the parts of the wood that were sagging.
And that wasn't the only face lifted. When Darcy saw the ''new'' playground for the first time, her face turned on with a supernatural radiance. I realized that this playground is her castle. It is one of her fortresses against (and escapes from) some of the abnormalcy of our current circumstance. It is where she brings her friends to play. While here, they don't have to be quiet while Mommy rests. There is no medical equipment or medicine in sight. And now, thanks to this group of young strangers, it looks beautifully neat and organized. It looks like we belong in the neighborhood.
Some people may think the reward for cleaning up a playground in a middle-class neighborhood may not be as good as the reward for feeding a hungry child in a Third World country. But people who do this work don't measure their reward. They just do what God tells them to do. God knows what he's doing when he tells them.
If you know a family in need, consider doing what God leads you to do. If you don't know a family in need, consider asking God to open your eyes to how your talents can put you in the swing of things.
Every Day Is Precious is a column to remind us to treat everyone we see today as if it could be the last time we see them. It is written by Rob Payne, whose wife, Marcy, was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in August 2000. Now 41 years old, she has gone from winning 5 and 10K races to being quadriplegic and on a ventilator at home. For a collection of these columns in book form, more ways to help others, more about Marcy, or to receive e-mail updates on her condition, visit www.EveryDayIsPrecious.com. If you have helped someone without being asked, or know of someone who has, share it with others. Send to rob@everydayisprecious.com or to Every Day Is Precious, 2051 Harvington Drive, Franklin TN 37069.
| 
');
post yXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXcate ɋ"ly @; ntry (cD~Ver1(E.$وfk`
url khttp://gcirm.tennessean.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.ads/news.tennessean.com/williamsonam/index.html@Top1 bsrl Uhttp://tennessean.com/williamsonam/archives/04/07/54021058.shtml?Element_ID=54021058 mime
text/html hvrs data document.write ('
');
post E.$XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXcate cDE.$ X@: l ntry (iGR:bْVe% BC & url khttp://gcirm.tennessean.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/news.tennessean.com/williamsonam/index.html@Top1 bsrl Uhttp://tennessean.com/williamsonam/archives/04/07/54021058.shtml?Element_ID=54021058 mime
image/gif hvrs data GIF89ax Z 1 ɝ°y\ʤ<(&䮕WMTD'fփVGDѯra檆]Ygǻ A̭! NETSCAPE2.0 ! , x Z w%Iu(ExTp\ )K'C )vƎRl6KtJ Ġz )%Cp0/<(ZT;U [l']a2- Zn
n
r? ACOy{~IVT ')0.
Ai >DHxz QR7[1 +]
:t$= |JWɡIxөC] N
H! *jҖ #eGy̐yId1y Qd: T0Ҥr е`0=F;H>vc/ j !T*^ NQ/]p 5Fg' ``Y:Ey6DCd@ 4LI_7<vns8]Fi bL6`1I@C 2B
`@Ivl}DK#a: ր0pWBc@KDf C
qt@zZ>(eؤbʊ)(Gt=2
XZ7nz`dv:PZ.&{ l@XFHbPꩩV Nj Lg yږAdC:F2hێe $jIa
!C"< Э heZc 'Tf@Hf] K?}) L00LCifXS.c(B{1dnEnr
od$-lV|u :ʽ.Fk`Dbq.9hg ĢqAة|8aP + o9ola'8 .n(!7yz AƆ,ՌYJ 4bBJta6Z2ƒgL6dEj9VM^Y$" ,p tdf$Wĥaby `!T" 1 }ANS\?ͨ 1-'=iOXpZT D Q;d0*| 3 RLHe"aW4Jߦ*JȠl JS{ԋUѶ0
N+_AjR@20jWkUE- ~aLJk ړmL@ h, l[7WծQ4MWZ:mrXº^/`XZC$f; "0 IWy@X}n@ -(}-V˞ @+Z$ z/r %۸Et_/F D6
zw#;v
@ +Y El3@#}71^v P_t &@Xqx 4 SI& 7vȹ% ` [h6g+[ŀ JR$_#} BAm, Ђ *[lx%c><#!nԫzA)LI=9< 4`~yѼe5yI9G?{36w>S{D7mHX7SZSx@7V>Ǥ=hR*tqo{z5o<n;ȱ TM `AHx6 ,}#n
[Ƀ8l mQF6DdX`yś^Ȏ\"903(R^@/Fذ2rA[ct 1(7ey}qğ8"&h<`&
IT٩( ˻:
Q0f5v3 .٩GFA ` B@u`yw7a !l`76ўٸOqs@X5p~uBp}=<%$ m Bś wez!0y7<\(̯M_B2Ϛ-,Wzc
V~}PkZx^ 'a`x"63t^rwXz#x^Wv\hfe| ac&Eh Y-bh fPC*%:w6 w1N p}qp`V8ealXF~][u@* _dޑwS
)$VG!7c+gjbF e5eShHhY kh"bgy:lXG /[}7k2`v`ԅ6eVYk8fpЇe1H0PLr9wiA:'@r6cSe7+&ph86mm@OYUC(nKn:ËwQaD^q1fcrA`y# [U^U8p1 FY2 KihDP2'xюpl`fm )wVg~` O>('w Nx/vr ~p~h JWfgj 2c^$-i"}*2wdiM`p62j$`Vr?Ie&r1Ƃ ra KYG$ H@hT
p/.\qg`i"6>Ye PV:y iNaQH $H2Dz*ҕz $ّx*f/Q q1&EV(u
Z Yi1 P:h&)(4M3xF38
!ɹl y
69'ִ@R EyB ɟ98 L
yʹv'Y ! Jf nxFy6XGԕ7!TkIzV8
*6 \+ENY;W8LXg"j% 4(- !Ӊ
u2 JSA~T;wCQ}(r٢y7
;u @ Z <`,6ԉffOQ$}^Jq|08scOuj'F? jCfe: 6
%SS ̷'779az
z7P{12zB4`mul i;iɪm'Wd2'0 'P=0 p&uvڐu ڬZ@'.P` 0 t@[ <y|bգv*ryz6Ybt
p[
;:
z蔳w/+9 *(9N+3; pAl GoV$~zz: gj#Y;.
a `~Nsڑl b( skY+dAS@d f
N n@07(U( 0{7]D@PO`HBmQ;
0ӏ
2iJ2a'Z$& )˫0 [8 6##AxPSw[y %Q
0]2&d x$& IxZp)pN
эFV=Dtj-̱ 47c 8E$U ;w5mR=F^饌OĬJu;>+7J KSQ / ?]y>PYA.U fD+`LJÞ鸴rLi %z Aeo.[;ٛ Րֶ
|[m $`[,V#U5[5 ɝW900`ݲ BI ފu BС\;J5 eeB07ap#]ƈ0k к%w K uL(No=p:g9KLC /cDk &rx,̮ 5% ol;!e AS[9y [۵50P[R Z ]"] þQԼ ^Ogk[OK"[1R "`{/ p3&7Uy R;?B26J %&^km'/ B@2
/q l 7Qs2Xѿa `G7${?ԃ t,P t 1ʙd 1QB e3 <=E.~M7#'1x CAr aF
`)%)%WmZP5lX;A-2D6]dpZD+?dlp
^Xs UiU^ft#!@ ! , x Z ` ba& p {xS.{pH,I$%k:g50TWvkD^x "V wNI(c'@4=jYmkop)s2uwwy&{
?kpb4
8?io1;AjFW<>"?2Uv 4V;فo( T[%#$ a@((4 ` fPPgJ Pa.$^!J1!
+! f .8@F04h 7kw ΕMl1n f3dx6Bbq)4uJдX F jDwWW4(|P4P
tb}z : %*̻w 2l 2T:m , ĐF *hyX v߄hѨ=X0CŝWr4e]BUA{d `PWmW }u)6߉%Po ! a[UAŵw
TДY _yU]qˡS\ASAo)|*B/
sTҐTpf;iJx9l V-gigjU"|Lmb- SG& 'QUUQw%[X0cT6)ft
Q] qvha&ZX`GlsV Gaa%T;\+
