The trailer keeps on filling up

Here's a shot taken Sunday night of the trailer at 11pm.  Seeing the trailer and it's companion, the yellow barrel, fill up again and again has been a tremendous joy to each person who's helped redistribute the food to 2nd Harvest Food Bank of NW North Carolina and Greensboro Urban Ministry.  I'm sure each person who's left left a can, box, or bag in one of the collection points has felt the surprise joy of being connected with other persons, even strangers, with a common heart of kindness. 

While it was still daylight, Harold, a person who's worked in Sunset Hills yards for decades, and a man of few words, was out blowing leaves out of the gutter and around the trailer.  I was at the trailer rebalancing boxes and bags of food.  Harold saw me, cut off his leaf blower and peered inside the trailer.  A long pause later he said, "It's a wonderful thing to live in a town where there's so many people who want to do good and share with others." Wish I could say that's been my reaction for all of 2009.  Maybe hearing Horace's pronouncement will help me change that. 

Gardner called this morning as I was leaving for work.  I could hear the smile in his voice. He was already in Winston Salem and had already taken 870 pounds of food to 2nd Harvest.  Christmas Eve, Gardner and his son Daniel and my son in law Johnathan and my son Justin and I took all the food that had piled up, filled his car till the springs started sagging, then put the rest of it in my Suburban.  I told him I was taking what we loaded in my Suburban that night to Urban Ministry.  I did.  It weighed in at 742 pounds.  So far, we've taken 2,888 pounds of food to 2nd Harvest and Urban Ministry.  And the week's just starting. 

I love how The Message translates Proverb 19:17.  It says, “Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full.

It sure is a wonderful thing to live in a town where so many people who want to show mercy and do good.