We were pleasantly surprised when 20 parents showed up to our first 2010 Kids Club parents meeting on October 22nd.  We explained to parents our disciplinary approach as well as introduced them to our new curriculum, asking for reinforcement in the home.  We talked about upcoming events and opportunities to volunteer.   Emily announced that we were organizing a deep cleaning day at the church which the parents would do, not out of obligation, but out of gratitude in their hearts for the church’s generosity in  allowing us to use their facility.  After the meeting I noticed one of the fathers looking around, checking out the walls.  He came up to me and said, “This room needs to be painted! Look up there.  The walls are dirty. I will bring in a couple of guys and we can paint this in one day.  You just find a time.  I want to get it done before Christmas so it looks nice for their Christmas services and events.”  He added, “Don’t worry about the paint.  I’ll figure out a way to pay for it.”  Just as the words slid out of his mouth, another parent chimed in that she would like to buy a bucket of paint for the effort.  The parents were organizing their own volunteer “thank you” project.   Here was a father who looked at what he had to give, assessed the situation and generously offered to sacrificially give of his time, talent and resources, taking what he had to say thank you for what was being done on behalf of his child.  I wondered what sort of an impact could be made if the body of Christ approached service in this way.   What if we all came to the table with our education, our skills, our financial resources, our time and then looked around and said, where can I apply that?  I pray that Casa Chirilagua will be a place where such things happen.  I pray that it will be a place where we all come with a willing heart and an offering to give that with the Lord’s help and by His grace, we might be part of the change we’d like to see in the community that surrounds us.