Flushing it out...

As I indicated in my last post, I've been in somewhat of a funk lately. Again I want to reiterate that I know that my "issues" pale in comparison to the plight of so many people in the world. Still it's been a rough few weeks. I'm emotionally drained.

Some of you know that I work on our church's Servant Evangelism team. This means that we go out into the community to spread random acts of service and kindness in the name of Jesus. We have done many many different types of outreach here in our community. Saturday, though, was by far the most unique!
After reading about this in Steve Sjogren's book 101 Ways to Reach Your Community, our team decided we wanted to give a "toilet bowl outreach" a try. Yes, you read that right.

Here's the gist of it: You go into a business in the community and tell the employees that you'd like to give them a break today and help out by scrubbing the toilets. Of course, as you might expect, some people say yes and others say no. You NEVER do this AFTER visiting the bathroom first. But you always let the people know that it's our way of saying, "God loves you" and taking an often unwanted task off their hands.

A few weeks ago, at our planning meeting, I thought "yeah, I'm ready for this. Should be a great experience and totally unexpected." Honestly, this morning it was the LEAST and LAST thing that I wanted to do--with the exception of, perhaps, a root canal. I even conjured up excuses to let the participants know that I had to back out.

So, with my van filled with cleaning supplies, I headed off to meet the team. While driving to church, the clash of thoughts were swirling around my head: "I could just bow out. I mean I HAVE purchased all the things and set the teams up for success." "I could tell them that I'll pray for them."

THEN a still small voice whispered "If you want to be great in God's kingdom, SERVE." AND "The best way to get above your circumstance is to bend down and help someone else."

The "Set the example and get out of your comfort zone and beyond yourself" argument won. When I arrived, the team was smaller than expected. A team of four of us set out to local gas stations, convenience stores, and drug stores. What happened next was simply amazing!

Our team had two men and two women. When we asked the managers of the stores if we could give them a break, they were nothing short of blown away! Even those people who said, "No." were quite amazed and glad for the offer. One manager said, "That might be the oddest request I've ever had." Then he said, "Sure...if you want to clean 'em, go ahead."

At least a few times, we were able to tell people waiting on and/or visitng the restrooms what we were doing and why. Even THEY were surprised by this random act of kindness.

After spending a little more than an hour out in the community cleaning, we wrapped up. And, again, I was reminded the joy that comes in service. It's a pleasure to put a smile on people's faces. It's immeasurable in so many ways. We never know when our act of kindness might plant a seed that will grow into full-blown faith for another.

Sjogren says this is his favorite SE activity. He also says that this is the "most rejected" activity they do...yet, because of it's impact they do it again and again.

For me it was SO WORTH IT! My negative spirit was quickly flushed away. And all it took was a few toilet brushes, rags, and cleaners---oh, and a willing spirit!