The Rock Guy

Jackie Passer shared this story.  God is working in a huge way on Staten Island in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane was 20 months ago, but many are living as if it was just yesterday. George, a senior citizen, has become known by our volunteers as "the rock guy".   Each day for 7-8 hours, the teams carried rocks into his yard. Teams poured big rocks, little rocks and tiny rocks by the bucket loads into his yard day after day to improve drainage in his backyard so his house doesn't flood again. The team layered large rocks (from concrete slabs removed from other locations by another part of the team by sledgehammer and loaded by hand into a trailer), then small rocks George had purchased, and lastly, a layer of dirt over the top raising the yard about 2 feet all around the house.

 Now you'd think George would sit back and let the young people do all the work while he watched, but not George! He was right there filling bucket after bucket of rocks for the bucket brigade of 12-15 teens. The kids noticed how hard he worked and how much he built them up.  When work sites were assigned, these kids begged to go back to George's. The work was hard and the buckets were heavy, but the kids loved George and wanted to be with him.

 

The night before the teams leave we have a time of sharing.  Person after person shared about how they moved rocks each day and how those rocks, that were seemingly endless, affected them and how God was working on them through George and his perseverance. But it wasn't until George himself shared about how he saw God move through every kid that reality hit. We are affecting lives for eternity and for God's glory. George became one step closer to a relationship with the God that allowed this huge disaster to hit his neighborhood but then brought a bunch of teenagers who paid to come and help him. He was blown away by this! And God was glorified. The kids wept as they shared, some even saying that they finally could take on a faith of their own rather than their parent's faith.

One volunteer shared how she was learning from the daily Discovery Bible Studies how to serve others and not think so much about herself. This young woman cried Thursday night when learning their leaders had decided to not work on Friday morning. The job wasn't completed at George's and she wanted to make sure the team coming in next would be helping George. She hugged him and told him how much she loved him, and she plans to return to Staten Island to check on George.

George is on the left. They are having lunch cooked by Aiman's mom.