When you say it, you'd better mean it.

Warning: Reading this blog may be harmful to your sensitive spirits and to your tear ducts.

God, use me to do whatever it is that you'd have me do.

Yep, when you say it, you'd better mean it. That came through loud and clear today.

A little backstory. A coworker & I go weekly to a local park and do art & music & just build relationships with the neighborhood kids there. We've connected with probably hundreds of people since we started doing it -- some in big ways, others in very casual ways. When we started, we had no idea what to expect. We went to the park that very first day and prayed this prayer (and continue to pray it every single day):

God, use me to do whatever it is that you'd have me do.

This park is in various states of disrepair. There are swings that are broken, slides that have sections burned out, grafitti over all surfaces, broken bottles, remnants of drug use and trash that never seems to find its way into the trash can. No biggie. We bring our gloves and our trash bags and every time set out to clean up the park just like we did before. Lots of people stop and ask why we're cleaning. Some thank us for cleaning. Others just nod and smile.

This morning when we got there -- well, let's just say that Labor Day weekend must have been one wild time in this park. There was more garbage than normal. And one especially hearbreaking sight: a dead cat right at the entrance to the park. Now, this isn't CSI: Feline Edition, but this cat had been there for a few days at least. People had to have walked over it or around it to get in and out of the park. Kids must have seen it. We saw it and immediately knew "whatever it is that you'd have me do" was right here, right now.

Some friends in the neighborhood walked by and told us there was a cat that needed to be cleaned up. They mentioned it had been there for a while. They even joked that there was no way we would pick it up. We did. A local botega loaned us some trash bags; a local business donated some gloves and 10 minutes later, God had wrecked me again and brought me back to the place where I had needed to be all along -- knowing that I am His servant and ultimately called to do whatever it is that He needs done.

R.I.P.. Grey & White Kitty, R.I.P. :(