Sometimes the Light Breaks Through

Today my friends Michelle  and Sherri hosted a shower for Melda, an elderly lady on the Rez that we are building a new kitchen for.   I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I can tell you that I was not expecting what happened. 

I knew there would be lots of gifts for Melda. That's a given. The people at our church love to do stuff like that. Show 'em a need and tell 'em how they can love somebody and they're all over it. But what happened today was something beyond just the gifts.

The women who showed up seemed genuinely interested in hearing about Melda. Today I went to the shower not expecting to say a whole lot. Sometimes I feel like everyone is tired of hearing me talk about Pine Ridge. Sometimes I get tired of talking about it. And sometimes, usually this time of year when I'm overly tired and overly stressed, I get all out of sorts and wonder if anyone cares. I even wonder if I care on really bad days. But today from the moment I walked in, these ladies had question after question. They seemed to really want to know about Melda and what life is like on the Reservation.

I guess I've never really had a chance to talk about it a lot at church. When we get home from the trip we do a short presentation, but that is mostly sharing about our trip and what happened during that time. I don't believe I've ever just addressed "Life on the Rez". I feel like I talk about stats and the like all the time but not ever at church. I have wished for time ... sometime... to share about some of the really cool stories I have. Stories about how God has moved at a given time. But there never seems to be time. Maybe one day....

So anyway, today while I was feeling all stressed out and exhausted and not really caring a whole heck of a lot, I was surprised to find that people cared. They even watched a couple of videos I've put together about the Rez and talked about the injustice and laughed at the fun stuff. Amazing. And at some point in the middle of all of that, I felt it ... the joy of knowing that in 12 days I'll be on the Rez again ... the joy of knowing that what we do does in fact make a difference ... and knowing that it also makes a difference in the lives of those here at home.

Sometimes the light breaks through. I took the pic above last week at my son's softball game. It pretty much says how I feel about today. 

Its Not Fair!

I've said many times that I've learned that any time you attempt to "do something" that will have a positive impact on the lives of other people, that some people will bless you and some will curse you. I've also said that I try not to pay too much attention to either but just try to keep moving along doing what I believe I'm supposed to be doing. As I've attempted Pine Ridge trips and REZonate this year, I've received both blessing and cursing from people. This was without a doubt the worst year for me personally for the Pine Ridge trips. I won't say more than that, but believe me it was not an experience I would wish on anybody. I don't mean the trip itself but rather the ... well, enough said.

Then REZonate came along and, well ... it just isn't fair. I get the front page of 2 local newspapers. I get to be on the radio. I get the bands attention and the applause and the credit and the glory. Meanwhile, there is a whole crew of people who are knocking themselves out to make the event happen and they never get a single mention. No one is aware of what they do or the sacrifices they make.

After a long week of working to put it all together, Dennis then turned around and worked until 2 am after the event was over to get the sound put back together at church. 

Jess got a call that her husband was being moved to ICU and left the event to go be with him - and then came back to work the rest of the event.

 Brody took time off work during a very busy time to make sure equipment was there when it was needed. 

Jeff and Scot put in hours of work to make the bike ride happen and they did an excellent job! Organizing a bike ride is no small task - its at least as complicated as doing the concert itself. 

Paula put in countless hours sending out press releases and contacting media.

Whitlock had a rather aggravating job of finding food vendors and getting them to commit. Then he worked sound a good part of the day as well. Brian puts hours of work in keeping records and lets a big portion of his house be taken over with "Pine Ridge stuff" all year. 

Tim made contacts and acted as the on site electronics wizard and photographer. 

The Hopewell Church of God allowed us to use tables and chairs and tents and then sent us a crew of volunteers to work most of the day. 

Ericka, Bailey, Logan, Josh, Brian, and probably some I'm missing were there from 7am - after it was all torn down that night. 

One man who wants to be anonymous dug deep to put in $2000 of his own money toward the stage rental and then came and worked all day. 

Brenda and Pam worked all day making sure the band members and bikers were well fed and had all the water they needed. 

Cathy and Charles worked all day manning the booth and doing security. 

And that's just the beginning. There are more ... many more. Not a bit of this would happen without those volunteers and all the others who came and gave all they could with no recognition at all. 

I know they don't do it for recognition. None of us do. Just wish I didn't get any either. It's not fair. It's really not