How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!
It's like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron's beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
It's like the dew on Mount Hermon
flowing down the slopes of Zion.
Yes, that's where God commands the blessing,
ordains eternal life. Psalm 133

Last evening, Evan's school had its annul spaghetti dinner. This is one of our larger fund raisers of the year but I think it plays a much larger role in the community of our school than just raising a few thousand dollars.

I do not know the exact numbers but it looked to me like last night was record attendance for the dinner. I am guessing that we served about 2,000 people which is pretty amazing in a city of only about 18,000 and with a school enrollment of just over 200. Certainly, we pulled people form outside the city but anytime you're briging together 10% or more of a city's local population together in one place, it is pretty tremendous.

The smell of spaghetti sauce still permeates my nostrils but it's in a good way. It brings back great memories of watching everything come together in such a seemingly flawless and seamless way to make the dinner a reality.

I do not want to take away from what I am sure were hours and hours of planning and preparation on the part of the key leaders of this event. But, the day of the dinner, things seem to just "come together" as many volunteering parents join together, each knowing what they are supposed to do, and then following through and doing it with consistent lovingkindess. We all start arriving for our volunteer positions, none of us knowing exactly what the "plan" is but somehow it just all works out. You never heard any complaining or words of negativity amongst the volunteers. What you did hear repeatedly was "What can I do to help?" -- people offering themselves up to serve, not to be served. Lisa and I were working at the water and orange drink station when two wonderful women who we only vaguely knew came up out of the blue and offered to take over for awhile so that we could go eat.

Again, not to take anything away from the main leaders of the event, but it all just makes me marvel at what happens when God's people come together under His banner to be His hands and feet. As volunteers, I know that Lisa and I left the school last evening just feeling so blessed and privileged to have been small cogs in God's work. I suspect that all of the other volunteers had similar feelings.

And, we're planning to meet some friends at Olive Garden today, so we can even stand the thought of Italian food again already!