The Publication of Habitat for Humanity International | October/November 2003
| The Publication of Habitat for Humanity International | October/November 2003 |
|
"We are only servants ... each of us did the work the Lord gave us." --I Corinthians 3:5b For 20 years, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, have faithfully built Habitat houses during his annual namesake "blitz build." They have worked hard and sweated and got bone tired along with everyone else on the work site. They have not just shown up for photo opportunities and press conferences. Indeed, President Carter usually grimaces with displeasure when someone pulls him from his work to do another interview. He loves to work. And he wants everyone else to work. His overriding desire is to get the houses finished so the families can move in. I've been with him scores of times when group pictures were being made. As soon as the last flash goes off, he yells, "Get back to work!" President and Mrs. Carter are, I think, true servants in doing God's work. I have seen him down on his hands and knees after midnight laying tile in a kitchen to make sure the house is completed on time. I've seen both of the Carters working away at midday, soaking wet with sweat in scorching temperatures above 100 degrees. One of my most vivid memories of President Carter was in the Philippines in 1999 at the end of the build there. Some 14,000 volunteers built a total of 293 houses at six sites all over the country. The main site was at Maragondon, near Manila. President Carter and Rosalynn worked on a house for a very poor family that had never had a decent place to live in their lives. At the dedication service, the mother of that family, Leonisa Salas, spoke with great emotion about the experience of getting a house. She concluded by saying, "The most meaningful thing for us about this house is that President Carter's sweat is in it." Then she explained how she had seen him mixing mortar in the blazing sun and, as she watched him work, she noticed that his sweat was dripping into the mortar. That really touched her. President Carter celebrates his 79th birthday this year. Yet he continues to be strong and engages in vigorous activities, both physical and mental. He sets the bar high for the rest of us. The Carters are servants. They serve in the spirit of the Oglala Sioux proverb: "We should be as water, which is lower than all things, yet stronger than rocks." Let us all be inspired by them and, more importantly, by God's word, which calls us to be servants. Get back to work! There is so much yet to be done. --Millard Fuller
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| © Habitat for Humanity International | Home | Get Involved | Where We Build | How It Works | True Stories |
