I’m not a huge fan of the Beatles, but that one’s on my mind tonight. Thanks to some dear friends, our next prayer letter’ll be going out in tomorrow’s mail.
Normally, printing and folding the letters and printing, stuffing and stamping the envelopes takes me about a week (I usually do it while Tracy’s at work). This time, though, we invited some friends over for a meal, some fellowship, and some help with our work; they were a blessing in each of those ways.
With four workers instead of one and the benefits of an assembly line, we got them all done in an afternoon. It was a great reminder of Jesus’ teaching that we each have different roles and responsibilities in His work and kingdom. We’re not all eyes or hands or feet, but we work together to achieve more than any one of us could do alone (and we do it faster, too).
That’s something I really enjoy about my role as a writer and journalist. My work is blatantly impossible without the work of others to write about, and my role is primarily to draw attention to their efforts, not my own. A journalist should always strive to be unobtrusive; it’s one of the reasons Tracy and I picked a former newspaper photographer to shoot our wedding (and one of the reasons we were so happy with the candids he got throughout that day).
As we await our move to Cape Town, I often feel the imbalance of sharing so many personal reflections about our work and journey while not having access to stories about others’ work there. I can’t wait to be amidst a team of people working passionately for God among people in spiritual and physical need, to be sharing their stories.
Working together with friends tonight was a blessing not just for the fellowship and the help, but also for the foretaste of what’s to come.
Today was also the day we delivered Sophie, our beloved chocolate lab, to her new family, the friends who bought our house and allowed her to come back to it. They and their three sons were there to welcome her, and their black lab, Holly, was very excited to have a new friend. As hard as it was to say goodbye to her, we were blessed to see how much she will be loved and cared for and to be told we can come visit. Just now, they sent us a picture of Sophie and a message that “Sophie loves her new bed, and all is well.”
How do we feel by the end of the day? … We get by with a little help from our friends.
Two verses feel close today:
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (English Standard Version)
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” – Proverbs 17:17 (English Standard Version)
The Heffron Family 