12-hour marathon

The end of the day brings an end to my twelve-hour marathon, also known as Wednesdays at All Peoples Church.

My day, at a glance:
9ish : pick up the fixed box of pork packages from Feeding America
9:30 : arrive at the church, bring said box of pork inside, see what sort of chaos is brewing in the kitchen, do some office work
10ish : help stock the pantry, learn the ways of pantry shopping
11 : serve lunch, always being watchful of people trying to take more than they should (aka stealing...)
12 : help clean up lunch, help a small child learn how to put puzzles together while bible study happens
1 : go "shopping" with people in the food pantry
2:20 : staff meeting, go over the whole church calendar for the next few weeks, eat pumpkin bread and chocolate
4 : wrangle KWTS kids, setup and prep for Wednesday Night Alive (WNA) with Linda
5:30 : take my guitar out and plan what essentially could be described as a VBS or Trailblazer opening/worship for the kids' worship
6:10 : start kids' worship with one kid and two adults
6:20 : three more VERY energetic children join worship, chaos ensues, God is still praised
6:30 : communion
6:40 : dinner, including conversations about the weirdest and funniest things that happened at school today with a bunch of middle school boys
7:30 : wrangle five VERY energetic children to the second floor to play alphabet bingo, hand out school supplies, and teach them how to turn their volume knobs from 10 to 3...sort of
8:00 : think I'm done with the kids...nope. Help supervise the handing out of school supplies
8:20 : brief meeting with Pr. Steve, V. Ben, and Linda, lock up the church
8:40 : finally leave, bring Veronica home
9:00 : arrive at my house, play musical cars in the driveway
9:15 : make a cup of tea, collapse

Yeah. Wednesdays are the longest work days and by far the most crazy.
As tired as I am (and as sore as my feet are from wearing my confidence-boosting high heeled boots all day), I can honestly say that it has been a wonderful day.  Sure, there have been a lot of trying moments, times where I've been ridiculously overwhelmed.  BUT.  I got to make a lot of connections and build a lot of relationships today.  I loved being able to better connect with some of the middle schoolers and KWTS kids today.  I'm remembering their names better, and I feel like both they and I are more comfortable around each other.

I am honestly growing to love the inherent chaos that comes with working at an urban church, or any-old church for that matter.

We're in the business of planting seeds.  I can't make major changes or momentous actions as much as I might like, but I can start small, talking to people, being cheerful, and the seeds I sow hopefully will grow, whether I see the results or not.

Thank you, God of our talents and energies, for the amazing opportunities that we have at All Peoples as disciples, making disciples, sharing your Good News, and nourishing us all body and soul.