The Meaning of Community

Why community?

Jesus focused upon relationships when He concisely stated the entire Law in two simple truths: love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Like Him, we treasure relationships, too. We put the word community into our name because we are longing for more than a school where families simply drop off their children. Two short months ago, we never would have imagined in our wildest dreams to see such an outpouring of community in the debut of Harvest.

Parents, teachers, administration, and even our very own students have joined us in painting, cleaning, etc. We have gone home with sore muscles from pulling rotting plywood from a perfectly good porch to pressure washing grime off the sides of the building. Extended family has joined us by doing the dirtiest jobs—emptying the muck from the pond and filling a trailer with debris from the construction job. Those unable to do serious hard labor have donated furniture, a refrigerator, money (which is much easier now that we have online donation), encouragement, etc. 

We are especially excited that people who may not ever directly benefit from our school have gotten involved with Working Party 2013 (the title of our photo album in case you would like to see some pictures). Days and days of painting and cleaning. One man donated two costly outdoor tables for fresh air lunches. One of our county's coupon divas came by with a bucket full of cleaning supplies that only costs five cents, including the bucket! Carolina Tree Care took down a tree for us, and we have a rain check for them to do a few more next month. Others have stopped by to drop off books, science equipment, puzzles, and games!

We have hired experienced construction workers to do jobs beyond our ability: replacing sheetrock and a few porch floor boards, making minor roof repairs, priming the walls, painting two rooms with twelve-foot ceilings, installing carpet, and converting the kitchen to a classroom. They have been working extra hard for very reasonable wages to help us get ready for our Drop-In and Tour next Monday (August 12 at 6:30 p.m.).

Today someone stopped by who saw the condition of the building when we first turned on the power. He was bowled over by all the progress we have made to get the school ready to open its doors. He asked Angie how we had managed to do so much work in so little time. She smiled and told him how God has been sending so many people to us, even if only for an afternoon. He agreed with the clear evidence of His hand in our little school.

How blessed we are to see this verse from Paul's letter to the Galatians in action: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”