Seriously, Who Cares About Numbers

Are you a numbers kind of person? I’m not! Boooooring!! And I’m sure I probably aggravate a lot of you numbers people. I’m definitely more of a this will do, that’s about it, let’s round it off, and a smidge will do kind of gal. It’s a good thing I’m not a carpenter for sure!

But I have to tell you after this last weekend I’m seeing so much more in “numbers.” At Bay Area Fellowship Westside we hosted our annual Head-2-Toe event where children from the community came to get a shirt, shoes, haircut, and an eye exam for free. We’ve worked diligently and sought out volunteers from the community to help.

As I was asked to be in charge of the volunteers I knew I needed a certain number of people to help serve that day. But how can you figure out how many you need when you don’t know how many are coming? Quite puzzling for someone who isn’t good with numbers.

As the day began Saturday, I had over 150 volunteers signed up ready to go. At that point they were names on a spreadsheet (another thing I’m not really good at). I was praying over them, but all I could see was the numbers. I knew a lot of them by name, but most I didn’t. Then that morning as they came walking in the door at 6am ready to serve with smiles on their faces, I soon began to see they weren’t numbers they were people. It wasn’t just a number I had been praying for it was a REAL LIVE person. By the end of the day we had over 200 volunteers stepping up to serve the community in the blazing south Texas heat. It was amazing.

The numbers didn’t stop there. The community was waiting in line by 5am and as I walked about to visit with them, I also realized the 2000 plus kids we blessed that day weren’t just numbers either – they were real cuties! The 3500 people we had on our campus that day – they were people. (Like our BAF Westside facebook page to see a short video of the day.)

I realize now that those numbers don’t signify anything other than the fact that those are real lives that were touched.

And the numbers just get better. The next day at church our sanctuary was packed, as well as our hallways and we had children everywhere. It was fun and exciting to be among all the hubbub. At the end of the day, I was told we had 569 people there at service. Unbelievable – that’s almost 150 more than were there the week before. That’s 150 more PEOPLE! People whose lives will forever be changed by God’s love.

So you thought I wasn’t a numbers girl, you can now know I am! Are you?