The Idea Guy
My name is Kent Ewonus, and I have attended Indian Creek for about 3.5 years. I have been a Christian since I was a young teen. I have been what I would call a sideline Christian, keeping the messy things at arm’s length, never really out of my comfort zone. Last fall my wife and I attended a get together where James Vogt spoke about how he organized a food drive for their church in Ontario, OR. I thought to myself, how cool to help out people who really have needs, especially given the times we currently face. The next day I was praying and said to God that Indian Creek ought to have a food drive. As I prayed, God spoke to me (on the inside) and said, “You do it.” I recall thinking, “Hey God, I’m the idea guy, not the actual do it guy.” But you know, the thought just kept coming to me, “You do it Kent.”
Well, that led me to sending an e-mail to the church and discovering we actually had a food pantry for those in need. I was introduced to Dorothy Shuler, and we organized a food drive in late October of 2008. We had the drive on a Saturday morning at the Ridgeview Hy-Vee for four hours, and it far exceeded my expectations. People were incredible: from folks that would press a couple of dollars into our hands to people that gave entire sacks full of items that we needed. My favorite was a man who pushed his full shopping cart up to our table and removed one small plastic bag and gave us the rest. As we ended the day, I was exiting and heading toward my SUV, and the same man who had given the full shopping cart pulled up next to me in his vehicle. He rolled down the window and said he had a few more things to donate. He pulled his big SUV up and opened the hatch. It was full of food and supplies from Costco. I asked him to come to church and if there was anything I could pray about for him. He said that he normally traveled on Sunday and he just said thanks. My car was stacked to the brim with only enough room for me in the driver’s seat! That’s just one of the amazing things God did for us that day. I thought of the scripture where Jesus said, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. (Luke 6:38 NIV) How true it is --- Our God Is BIG!
Since then, we’ve had our second food drive, and it was really, really cold. The generosity of the people that gave from little children to the elderly kept us warm. And once again my car was packed. I am so thankful that God told me to go and do. Once you get out of the boat, life really gets exciting!
- Kent Ewonus