Labor of Love

Submitted August 21, 2008
 

This note is to share my heart, so it is not really a formal letter. I am just sharing the blessing I received when we worked to clear a trail for the RUTS 200 club ride at Foresthill. The group split into two teams. One team worked on trail loop 5 and the other on trail loop 6.

The depth of the snow on loop 5 was up to my waistline. It took a long time just to clear one small part of the trail.  The team employed all kinds of trail clearing creativity, but mostly just a lot of hard work. Marty, Rob and Grieg kept going back and forth with their bikes to cut a path while the others kept digging out the snow.

I almost cried when I saw the crew’s commitment to the hard work it took just to clear this one small trail section. There was a time when Doug L. kept was on his knees because he was too exhausted to get back up on his feet. I dug a little at a time with a small shovel. This was all I could do because of my anemia. I felt a little guilty for even coming. I was thinking I might be more of a burden than a help.

Observing these men of God doing the labor of love was awesome. Because of the their hard work, other riders would be able to go through. I saw a spiritual parallel in this. Because of the work of dedicated believers, non believers are able to go through the pathway toward salvation. The commitment of believers…one rock at a time, one shovel at a time, one branch at a time…allowed riders to get through to God’s perfect plan for their lives.

I was so blessed to see these mighty men of God sacrifice to clear the way for nonbelievers to get saved. Nonbelievers had an opportunity to see that Christian men are good fathers who spend time with their sons and daughters and honor their wives. As one born in the Philippines, I could see that true America is not like the Hollywood version (broken homes, broken lives, no morals, no godly fathers, etc.)  And there are wives who lovingly support their husbands. This is the Godly America that helped the Philippines have a Godly constitution.

In Christ,

Sis Melanie

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