Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner
My Pastor has recently started asking church members to get more involved in helping those in need. There is a sweet elderly lady, in our church, that is going to have surgery this month and he asked her what the church could do to help her. She said that she needed a handrail repaired and some bushes trimmed.
There were a total of seven people that showed up at her house to help…wonderful!! So I had this great idea. There is a good friend of mind that goes to our church that recently had surgery. I told the Pastor that he should call him and see what he needs.
He suggested that I call him He says he always tells our Pastor, Dustin, that he is fine and doesn’t need anything. I said that I would call him. When I did he told me the same thing. I suggested that I was sure he would like for someone to bring he some food. He said, “Well I do like fried chicken.” Sounded like a plan.
I told Dustin that he would like a fried chicken dinner and I also knew that he had just bought some bookcases that needed to be put together. I was sure that Dustin and some other church members could handle all of that easily.
However, being the smart man that he is, Dustin had different plans. He called me and asked if my small group that I lead on Sunday nights could cook Wayne fried some fried chicken and take it to him. I said “Cook??!!” I don’t think so, but we can take him some food. I am not a big fan of cooking!
I called a couple of the people in my small group. I was not able to get in touch with any of them. I was discouraged and I considered just doing it by myself. Before I left work, one of my group members, Pam, called, and we made plans for her to pick up the chicken. Since I was just leaving work, I would meet her at the church and we could ride together.
She pulled into the church parking lot about a minute after I did…good timing! She hopped in my car and we made our way to Wayne’s house. If you think I live way out in the country, then you should see where Wayne lives! Pam and I had a chance to chat for a while on the way.
I was very tired and I knew that I had used up all of my spoons for the day…see The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/, if you don’t know what I mean.
But since Wayne is one of my best friends, I wanted to help him. The next day I paid for over doing it, but I also received a blessing from helping my friend Wayne and getting to know my friend, Pam, a little bit better. So it was a win, win situation for me. And Wayne got a chicken dinner. The little saying came to my mind “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.”
About a year ago, I talked to my Pastor about wanting to form a group to help others. I had no idea how I could combine the needs of those in our church with the willingness of others to help. Since then, the Lord has led me to lead a small Bible study group in our church. I still couldn’t figure out how to fulfill those needs. Now I know. You just do it!! You call someone and say what do you need and if they give you the common response of “Nothing, I’m fine,” then you suggest bringing them food or whatever you think may help them.
It is that easy, but it is that hard too! Let me explain. It takes planning, effort, time and energy. All of the resources needed for each of these tasks are limited by my daily lack of stamina, since i have been diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis, and other related conditions. But each time I do something for others, I trust in the Lord and I am blessed!! I definitely feel like it is worth all of the effort!
