Have you ever had moments when you look back on your life and laugh outloud at certain moments in your past. . . whether or not they were funny at the time. For instance, my dad used to wake up me and my two brothers at 6 am on Saturday mornings in the summer time to go and work outside in our garden (we had a huge garden ~ acre, more like a small farm ). The funny thing was that he would be all smiles as he burst into our room nearly shouting “WE’RE BURNING DAYLIGHT BOYS, WE’RE BURNING DAYLIGHT” – of course we would moan and groan in futility, but an hour later we were outside working our butts off, and usually laughing about something - having a good time.

This morning was one of those mornings - - Every year all of the block students (around 300-400 students) do a community service project day (half in the morning, half in the afternoon) as part of their freshman orientation. For several years now we have descended like a hoard of locusts onto riverpark off of Main Street in Mishawaka, and done everything from weed it all of it by hand, to spread mulch, to move rocks, etc…

This year was a whole new level. . . They dammed up and drained the entire park area so that it could be “cleaned” of all of the trash and sludge that had built up in the past year. Armed with hand scrappers, snow shovels, and other various shoveling equipment, a big group of us attacked the sludge!!!

Was is hard work. . . yes. . . did we have to get up early to get out there. . . yes. . . was it what anybody really wanted to do when they rolled out of bed this morning. . . no. . . Did it smell. . . c’mon, what do you think?  Most importantly. . . did we have fun. . . WE HAD A BLAST!! We were covered in “muck“, we were hot, we smelled something fierce, we were thirsty, and we didn’t know eachother, but I think we were all laughing most of the morning – just yelling and being silly, acting like Lord of the Rings going into battle with our snow-shovel-shields, - getting dirty like my 16 month can only dream of – good times. . . As Mark Beeson would say, we were making memories – great memories. Somewhere between students getting snipered by a conceiled raise of concrete, releasing a jolting aaauugh, and watching 3 overworked city workers be able to take a morning off. . . God showed up. . . . . . . . and obligation turned into opportunity. . . and we didn’t look back. . .

Can’t attitude sometimes change almost everything??

I challenge us all today to do three things:

1. Remember that God owns everything and that we are stewards of His creation

2. Think of ourselves less often today

3. Willingly accept a job that most people would consider “beneath” them

Peace be with you all -