Spreading the Seed

Thursday I tried to get my real ID, traveling to Somerset, Pennsylvania to the Department of Transportation Photo Center. It seems that this driver’s license renewal is always less congested and less busy than the ones in Uniontown or Greensburg. Even though I’m retired, I don’t like waiting in lines. I was sure that I had all of the information that was required, but when I got there I couldn’t find my social security card. I was sure that I had it, but kept overlooking it. I had the card’s stub, but it wasn’t acceptable. Then I became flustered and couldn’t find the original. When I got back home, I discovered that the original card was tucked inside the fold of the stub. DUH!

Friday I drove to the Uniontown licensing center fully armed with all of my paperwork. I won’t say that going there was a mistake, but waiting to be processed at that facility was about three times longer than sufering the rejection in Somerset.

While I was in Uniontown, I stopped at the Uniontown Mall to check out an antique store suggested by a friend. It was similar to the old Red & White store antique center near Ligonier, but the Uniontown Mall shop was much cleaner. The friend who suggested that I visit the antique mall was the same person responsible for initiating a blind date between me and my wife Cindy.

Friday evening I helped to unload the equipment and the Scripture that needed to be assembled Saturday morning. It is just a small part of the Seedline ministry, an organization dedicated to printing the Gospel and full Bibles in a number of languages. The John and Romans Scripture we were to assemble were printed in Portuguese and was part of a shipment to Mozambique, Africa.

Fifty-four volunteers of all ages gathered around twelve tables. In an assembly-line fashion, Pages of Scripture were separated and placed on three tables where the volunteers would stuff the pages into covers folded at other tables of workers. The assembled pieces of literature were passed along to the people operating the banks of staplers to attach covers and Scripture.

The final step involved the trimmer. This one ton machine trims the edges off ten booklets at once. There is one person who feeds the machine, one that causes the blades to drop to lop off the uneven edges, and another person who collects and boxes the finished Scriptures.

In less than four hours, our group had compiled 10, 558 copies of John and Romans in Portuguese. We set a record for our church with the number of volunteers and the number of assembled booklets completed.