Pavilion Update

God showed up today and a whole bunch of people did too. At one point, we had over 30 people at the pavilion working, serving, and watching God move. The neighborhood saw God move too.

Too many times over the past year, the unfinished pavilion has been a site of disappointment to me; that unfinished project that screamed “failure” to me over and over again. It was a personal failure and a ministry failure. We had let the community down by giving them an eye sore instead of a pavilion. I felt like a failure when after weeks of writing letters and making phone calls, I couldn’t even get one contractor to come on board with the project.

Still we prayed. For months, it was just a few of us who prayed for wisdom and guidance. The few of us who prayed that this project would be finished. The few of us, who all had it confirmed on our hearts that God was going to make a way for this project to be done. The few of us who encouraged one another even when discouragement was easier. We prayed when time after time, things fell through and our hopes were deflated again.

We prayed and then it became clear that it was time to take out a step in faith; order the trusses, the metal roofing, and organize a work day. We walked in faith that people would come, even when we only knew of around five people for sure who would be there to help. All along the way feeling the weight of the project on our hearts and filling our minds with what would have to be done.

Then we surrendered the project over to God. You see, as much as we would like to take credit for the pavilion and the garden, this is all God. When He choses to show up and do a work, He comes to show off and do the “immeasurably more than you can think or imagine”. This is not because he couldn’t have put it on a contractor’s heart to come do this for us, but because He wanted to use His people to join with Him in the work of the Kingdom. God chose to use the people of Journey Church, family, and friends to do the work. God chose to SHOW us, to show me, that He loves us by moving people’s hearts to serve.