Dishes

I didn't get it for a while. Washing sandy gunked-up dishes at a fairly posh seaside hotel? How would this help?

Like all the other usable buildings, the first floor is gone. They salvaged whatever dishes they could from the rubble. Volunteers have been washing them for days. I knew I didn't have the whole picture, so I kept my pause button pressed. Barely. 

Then I met the owner (who made us the world's best white stew for lunch, but I digress). She has a case of very contagious joy. Life already won for her 43 years ago. Jesus took an anxious, tennis playing high school girl and changed her. So much so that when she saw the devastation in March 2011, she cried once, told God it's His responsibility to do something about the obstacles, and swung into action. 

Sure, it's her family business. But she also had about 70 employees who she plans to rehire as soon as she possibly can.

Construction crews will start in July, and the hotel reopens in November. That means massive loans and restarting tourism in the area, but those are just obstacles that she gave to God. 

I get it now. Life already won here, and is very likely to win for her employees too.  We're just coming alongside. Dishwashing makes sense now. 

The hotel brochure included the line "Enjoy this place of healing." 

During this rebuilding process, we'll all need some of that.