If Stumps Could Talk

Today – 4 November – was our Fall Impact Day at Point University. We sub-titled it “Block of Blessings.” In partnership with the Chattahoochee Valley Fuller Center for Housing, over 400 students, faculty, and staff from Point University made a huge impact on an old mill village neighborhood in Lanett, Alabama. Kim Roberts from the Fuller Center and the Point student life staff did an amazing job in organizing our group to work on about 25 homes on the street we choose for a Block of Blessings experience.

Students could be found painting, scraping old paint, mowing lawns, trimming shrubbery, removing over-growth in long-forgotten backyards, and just about any other outdoor task you can imagine. Several Greater Valley Area business provided tools and skilled oversight and Spring Road Christian Church jumped in as well. 

We have been doing days like this at Point since the spring of 2007 when we first went to City of Refuge in Atlanta. Our student body has grown in ways that make finding an opportunity that can keep us busy is challenging – but the impact of Impact Day is felt on both sides of the equation. The neighborhood we worked in looks so much better than it did at 8:30 this morning that it is difficult to describe. But the hearts of lots of Point faculty, staff, and students no doubt look equally as different. It is simply hard to engage our world for Christ and not be changed by our engagement. 

In one of the yards we worked in there was a huge stump from an oak tree that had been cut down at some point. I was intrigued by the stump and counted about an inch of rings and did an estimate that the tree was probably 150 years old. A student asked if I would give her five extra point on a test if she counted the rings. I agreed. She did. The tree was 194 years old. As I told that group of students, it was a pretty good sized tree when the Civil War was being fought!

Perhaps that tree was planted for shade in the promising front yard of some farm house nearly two centuries ago. Under that tree you could have heard shots from what people in West Point claim is the last battle of the Civil War. You could have watched the textile industry grow and provide jobs for a whole region, only to leave town and leave mill villages like the one we were working in far behind and all but forgotten. 

But today – had that tree still been alive – you could have stood under its shade and seen 400+ university students working to make a little portion of God’s creation look better. Look cleaner. Look more like someone cared. 

That tree stump has a story to tell. And so do I. It is easy sometimes to always assume the worst about young adults. Certainly Point’s collection of young adults aren’t perfect – but then neither am I. Yet what I saw this morning is that when we creatively put opportunity in front of them, they are eager to make an impact on the world around them. 

My story to tell also includes a huge reminder to me personally about life. I did the devotional at the beginning of our day and reminded students that what I think is Paul’s favorite word for preaching literally means something like “to call alongside of.” It suggests that bearing witness to the gospel isn’t so much pointing fingers, but joining arms to travel this journey of faith together.

In that context, I told our students that while we would make a huge impact on this neighborhood today, the real impact would be in our own hearts – if we would be brave enough to crack the door of our hearts just a little.

I heard more than a few conversations today about that cracked door. Lots of folks realized that our tendency to complain about so much while living in the midst of abundance was not a good practice. Working on houses that needed so much done to them makes it hard to complain about most of the stuff in my life that annoys me. 

My story has to include Kim Roberts and her volunteers. It has to include the folks from Kimble Food Services who helped us out. It has to include the Point shuttle drivers who added to their normal drives to transport students. It has to include faculty and staff members who think joining arms with students in a little hard work is a good academic experience. It has to include Chris Beirne and his staff in all their planning. Coaches who made sure their teams were there and worked alongside of them were inspiring to me. 

I could go on. But you surely get the point – pun intended.

Thank God for Point students. They make me proud to work at this great kingdom outpost where we desire above all else to point our culture to Christ.

That old stump has its best story yet!