God's Mysterious Ways...

God moves in mysterious ways that we often don't see or understand, but when they become visible, it is amazing!

I've had two such experiences in the last few weeks.

First, two Sunday's ago, a lady from the neighborhood who is a teacher, attended worship and wondered if we would like to join her in doing a summer reading tutoring outreach to our community.  Then on Wednesday of that week, while at Pinehurst Elementary School, I was approached by a title 1 teacher who was looking for a location to host some summer reading tutoring for the children from that school who live in our neighborhood.  WOW!  I am starting to think God is wanting us to go a new direction.

Second, about 6 weeks ago, I was contacted by a friend who goes to my home church in Cordova, MD, who through her job with MandT Bank had met a local couple who needed some help getting a wheelchair ramp at their house.  This is awesome, because we used to have a Ramps R Us ministry that built ramps for people who needed them.  It gets better.  In the process, I found out that Lowes is applying for a local hero grant through the corporation to supply the material and they must partner with a local non profit - and Community of Joy can be that partner!  In addition, I have indicated to the Lowes contact person that CoJ would love to be a partner on other projects in the community.  She was delighted to hear this and now has my contact info on file.

Out of this, I have visited the couple a few times and exchanged many emails.  Richard has ALS and is somewhat limited in his ability to go places.  He shared with me that he would love to connect with a church - he has been away from church for some years.  Well, I was delighted to be able to say to him that we are handicap accessible.  In addition, he told me yesterday when I was visiting him, that he doesn't just want to receive, he wants to give... so he is praying for the church and he is willing to try to teach me to play the bass guitar - which is something that I have wanted to learn for a while now.  I have a bass but do not know how to play it.  He tells me that he can teach me as he plays one himself!  WOW!

All I can do it sit back and watch with wonder how God moves in our midst!