An Eclectic Cast

Thank you to everyone who prayed. After I posted that last entry, another of my volunteers canceled. God, that's not what I meant by providing enough volunteers. And then my friend Eleanor (who had come up for our East Harlem outreach and was part of the original Padre Plaza team) texted me that one of her friends from Tennessee was in NYC for his spring break with some friends and that they wanted to volunteer with us for the day! Oh yes, that is more what I had in mind!!!

I woke up this morning to more cancellations of people who had said they'd help. At some point though, you just have to say Okay God, this one's yours. Please equip us to do this. I don't know how, but please do something.

When I got to the office this morning, someone else canceled. Okay, it's time to swallow my pride and tell the vice principal that we're short-staffed. So I emailed her and asked if we could combine groups since our numbers were so much lower than we'd anticipated. Imagine my joy when she responded, "Actually, our numbers are a lot lower than we'd expected too; a bunch of kids forgot about it today. So that should work well, and you'll have a bigger group the rest of the week."

A few NYCUP students arrived early and joined us. Two of the kids still in our current mentoring program in Manhattan had spring break and agreed to help out. One of my former NJ students rode the bus in and lent a hand as well. The two guys from Tennessee who gave an afternoon of their spring break. The president of the IVCF chapter at Columbia who heard about the need. My roommate who left the restaurant in all its craziness because she knew I was so short-handed. Several camp counselors who live in the city. And suddenly, we actually looked like a legitimate team of volunteers.

I remember hearing once that God doesn't always deliver in the eleventh hour. Sometimes he waits until the thirteenth hour. But he always delivers. I know this wasn't a matter of life and death, but it was a pretty big deal to me and, as I've been learning, God really does care about the details of my life. And boy, did it feel like we were in the thirteenth hour. But God showed up. And it was awesome. I know that we don't get to see the whole picture right away, but I'm already thankful that I had the chance to lead a group (usually I just get to equip my volunteers to lead) and to have the interactions I did with the kids we served today. I'm pretty psyched to go back tomorrow with a full volunteer staff. But the team today was a pretty awesome reminder that God really does want us there, sharing his love (though wordlessly) with the children in that school!