What is in Your Hand?? {guest post}

The words resonated to me from the podium. With my heart pounding I looked down at my hands and opened them thinking that maybe the answer would jump out at me. I had nothing. Deflated, I glanced back up at the Pastor speaking and thought that maybe the reason the question came across so loudly was that there had been a fluctuation in the microphone. It could not have been because the question was being directly spoken to me.

The sermon continued on but I could not keep from looking at my hands. What was so important about MY hands. There was nothing in them. They did nothing terribly important. I am a mom who takes care of kids. My hands have no time for more than cooking meals, changing diapers, lesson plans, folding laundry and my occasional typing on the computer. Wait… Can that be used for something more than just typing? Could God use me to reach out to other people with just typing? That seems ridiculous. What could I do with typing that no one else was doing and who reads what I write anyway.

At this point in my process my thoughts returned to a video that was played earlier in the service. We (as a church) were starting a new awareness program for Congo. My church feels the weight of what is happening in Congo heavily. Members have witnessed first hand the agony this country is enduring. There has been a partnership (of sorts) built between our church and churches planted in Congo. Our church’s entire Christmas Eve offering was given to victims of the wars in Congo last year. One of our Pastor’s, Joe Johns, has decided that he wanted to do MORE in raising awareness and funding for peace in Congo.

What does all this have to do with my hands? I struggled with these thoughts the rest of the service. I am still unsure how I paid attention and had an internal conversation all at the same time. I can’t even pinpoint how long all this took or where in the service the thought of using my blog to advance a Kingdom opportunity came into mind. I’m still skeptical that my one little blog can help out God’s big plan for the world. I feel like others out there are doing so much more. Like, Joe Johns.

He is using his bike. He and a team of 7 other men are riding across country from Bend, Oregon to Baltimore, Maryland. They are going to accomplish this in 7 days! That’s over 2,700 miles of all kinds of terrain to cover! They have calculated that they have to ride 18 MPH 24 hours a day to reach their end destination in time. All of this for peace in a war torn nation. How is that for using what you have in your hand? Awesome!
I spoke with Joe Johns at the end of the service and through emails over the next few weeks. I am using what I have in my hand! It’s all I have isn’t it? I have a way for you to use what’s in your hand too. More on that in a bit. First, how about an inside peek at how Joe Johns brought about this “Race for Congo”:

Me: How did you start this whole thing?
Joe Johns: I felt we were suppose to multiply what God multiplied for the Fellowship Missionary Church (FMC) community on Christmas Eve offering last year. I thought a cross country bike race might be a good way to multiply donors, awareness and partners. Plus, a cross country ride has always been on my bucket list.

Me: When did other riders catch on to doing this ride with you? Did you invite?
Joe Johns: In December 2010, I started talking to Andrew and Jeff (the other two riders from Fellowship Missionary Church) about the idea which they were immediately enthusiastic about. I shared the idea with World Relief (WR) in January. They liked the idea but it wasn’t until March or so when were able to see that if it was going to a happen, FMC would have to take responsibility to organize the bike trip itself. (We had first talked about a WR team of 8, an FMC team of 8 and possibly other churches fielding a team 8, but in the end we realized the need to scale things back in order to increase the chances of a successful first annual event.) WR agreed to help us promote as well as contribute several rider’s including the new CEO, which was obviously a big win.

Me: Do you often find yourself jumping in with two feet? Do you look first? Hehehe…
Joe Johns: It was more like diving head first. I had enough confirmations along the way to keep pursuing the idea. By May, we had pretty much reached the point of no return.

Me: What was your wife’s/family’s initial response to your idea of a ride across the country?
Joe Johns: My wife is very supportive of most of my hair-brained ideas. Her one concern has been safety and she successfully talked me into renting an RV instead of taking a donated one which was on the small side which would’ve have compromised sleep, which then compromises safety.

Me: Are you encouraging ride “alongs” with you? Or just encouragement from the side of the road?
Joe Johns: We will (possibly) have anyone who wants to join us as we ride with a police escort through Fort Wayne to FMC on Saturday Aug 6. Times and start locations to be announced.
Note from Me: I have found that encouragement from the side would be readily accepted! They do intend to make “pit stops” with churches along the route to refuel (spiritually and physically). The route may need to adjust to weather and construction though which might make it challenging to wait for them to come through your area. I will have a tentative route up on my blog soon.

Me: What is a prayer request for this race for you and the team?
Joe Johns: Pray for a strong tailwind! We need people to pray against vehicle/mechanical break down–a lot can go wrong with 3 vehicles over 6000 miles. We cannot do the relay part without them. A need for an emergency repair could jeopardize the whole race. Also pray for the success of the fundraising, pray we not only reach our goal but exceed it as well.

So let me ask you and be sure that you understand that I am asking YOU! What is in your hands? I am way, deep outside my comfort zone with what I have started with my hands. Would you like to join me? I have the Race for Congo Blog Drive going on my blog right now that could really use your hands.

Maybe you have something else that you have in your hands and just need a little nudge. May I nudge you? Go! Use what is in your hands. Give it to God and be amazed.

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Dee says, “I a mom of many but do not have many brain cells left working. [Start Dreaming] is where I record my daily life. I am an anonymous blogger so you won’t find pix of my family or kids [there]. You will find a wide variety of posts about; babies, homeschooling, gardening, photography, my love for technology, coupons and more.