Monday, October 13, 2008

Overwhelmed by God

So I'm out here experiencing life. Just living like I always do. Being completely crazy busy, and pretty sure I can not fit another thing in my life. Being the wife of a scouter and a scouter myself to some degree leaves little room for much anything else.

Well then there was this little thing some peeps of mine started talking about. Pretty much non-stop they talked about this....Prom.....a to do they began planning at the beginning of the year, possibly before. Not just any prom, a Prom for special needs adults. This is when I heard the needle on the record scratch. Why? Well because I do have gifts in some areas of life. Special needs folks is not one of my gifts. Think of me as a horrible person if you will but it gets better I promise. Plain and simple I don't like unpredictable. I like to have some idea of what's going to happen next. With special needs folks you don't get that luxury. Ok whatever I got issues. Plus I had a cousin with special needs growing up and, he scared the crap out of me on more than one occasion, one of which was when he tried to drown me....so I got issues. So then the peeps, talk, and talk, and talk about prom. And when my church does things, they can't do anything small, so therefor they need help when they do things because it requires half a city of volunteers to pull things off. So I jump on board making it clear I should not be in direct contact with any special needs folks since I don't have those skills. So I help sort dress's, that was safe and fun. Oh and don't worry a thousand dress's at least were donated. Well then I had to be involved in the actual event. Again with the half a city needed to volunteer, so I sign up for Volunteer check in.....volunteers are not the ones with special needs, again I'm safe. Well then 800 special needs folks show'd up, expecting 600, I was officially out numbered....therefor was forced to interact with them.



This lady kept talking about her parents were looking down from heaven and smiling.
Soooooo......I'm here to tell you, not only did I survive, it's quite possible I'm a changed person. I don't see me volunteering at a group home anytime soon, however, I am certain the next time I see a special needs person at the grocery store or at church, I won't look away as if I don't see them in hopes that someone else will speak to them, I may say "Hi..." possibly even more then that, I will probably ask them how they are doing, what's their name......or what they did last night.

Having the good fortune to have attended the Vineyard for over 18 years I've experienced more than my fair share of HG moments. This by far was the absolute best. Everytime I even allow myself to think about how happy these people were just doing something most people get to experience in their lifetimes, often more than once, I cry. When Dave mentioned that we truly lived out this verse......"Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." ~Matthew 14:12-14 Seriously I fell the heck apart. That is it! We did exactly that, and it was the most amazing thing I've been involved in, thanks friends for nudging me to be involved. This was no luncheon my friends this was a full on Banquet!


Everyone walked the redcarpet, complete with paparrazzi.
I recruited some of my peeps to help out. Layni and Ashton went and helped folks pick out dress's the weekend before.
ETA: Go Here and fast forward to 53.28, and here how the prom went. You're sure to cry.

5 comments:

Heather said...

Locally, we do a Christmas ball for our special friends (and by WE I mean community). It's so much fun!

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you did it! Sign me up for next year! And you look quite lovely!

Guard Wife said...

Oh, man! How fun! It looks like everyone had a good time. I'm glad you moved from your comfort zone so you could experience it all too. :)

Jen said...

Jodi, what a great post! I'm so glad God has done this in your life. Looks like you were among the "paparazzi."

Stacie said...

Jodi, you are one of the reasons I believe God (and the HG hook-up) are really honestly working through VCC. Your post was so honest and I can totally relate to a lot of what you admitted to. I'm really proud of you for going with the flow when you realized it wasn't going to be all "checking in volunteers" then going home :)

You looked great, by the way! And YAY, for Layni and Ashton! (Did I spell that right?)

P.S. Up for a night at Chili's anytime soon?