Ice cream
Sunday, August 2, 2009 at 10:32PM For a while now, people in our church have had off and on conversations about reaching out to those outside of us. I really don't believe we are closed off to others, but I do also believe that there is more for us in this area. Coworkers, neighbors, etc. ...it's just really easy to overlook the people God puts in front of you sometimes, and it can be really hard to reach out to those in the community.
So God sent us ice cream.
In a "this is made for a blog post" kind of way, Maria entered into a contest to win a Dreyer's ice cream party for the neighborhood, and she won! Dreyer's sent us enough ice cream for 100 people (on dry ice), as well as bowls, spoons, and invitations for the neighborhood.
Different freaks went door to door knocking and inviting the neighbors to come. Door hangers were made so that people would not forget. We even got a city permit so that we could block off our street! At one point, Richard stood in the middle of the street eating his ice cream and said it was "because I can."
And the people came.
30 families showed up. 30 families, not people. And at least half were not from our local church fellowship. People met, people chatted, people laughed. Kids played. It even started to rain lightly, and no one seemed to care! We just huddled under the big oak tree...and it probably just brought us all closer together.
I think this is just another indication of how God provides for where he leads. He's not just the asker, he's the doer. Don't get me wrong, I know that this one event is not the culmination of what God has put on our hearts, but it's a step. A beginning. And one that I could not have made more awesome!
Already, I know of at least two couples who got together for dinner (for the first time) as a result of the ice cream party. I know it sounds silly, but I'm just amazed at this God who delivers us ice cream from heaven (read: Dreyers) so that we can get to know our community a little better.
What a great adventure churchlife is!
And if you're wondering what our lovely Maria wrote that won the contest, here it is:
Living in Waco, Texas one must often defend why it's a good place to live. We live on a cute street in the middle of the part of Waco that many are leaving behind. Folks move away from Waco proper to the suburbs. It's time to reward those of us with young families that find value in living in houses that are twice are age. Our cute little yellow house is 60 years old. We live on Hubby Avenue. There are quite a few young families on Hubby Ave. We are happy here. Our houses are old and are trees are too. We have a Live Oak tree in our front yard that's the prize of our yard. We know are neighbors and meet the new ones. Our street is full of familiar faces that smile and wave, not strangers staying indoors and avoiding the world. Young families and widows share this block and would love to have a block party with lots of ice cream. One of our dear friends and close neighbor has his own personal park (the lot behind his house) that we all affectionately call Beulah Field. It's been made into a small baseball field complete with bases. We would love to have everyone on our block enjoy ice cream on Beulah Field or simply here in our front yard on Hubby. What a wonderful idea...let's knock on all of our neighbors doors and have a big ice cream party. Why do we deserve it? Because we are young families and some widows who look out for one another. We value each other and value this neighborhood. Who are we? We are the Srirams, the Pendleys, Mrs. Schwartz, the Brewers, the Comptons, the Martinez family, the Taylors, the Jimenez family, Mr. Reed, The Andersons, Mrs. Leper, the Steeles, The Jennings family, and the other Sriram's to name a few. We are families that are happy and excited to live in an older neighborhood in Waco, Texas. Come find out why this neighborhood in Waco is great!!!
And you can see the photo gallery here.
Reader Comments (2)
Awwww.....that was great!
Great post. Thanks for sharing your pictures too! It was a blessing to be a part of this event. It encourages me that there is so much more in-store for us. So many things that we won't be able to "plan" for, but rather we will get to receive as gifts from him.
(I do wish you would've atleast edited my submission some. There are so many glaring typos! oh well.)
-maria