"That unity and passion to serve God is what I witnessed. Many of the people who help with the Auction process do so for free, sacrificing time, and yet they do it with a smile." 

I walked up to my vehicle. People hustled by, and cars zipped past me heading to the road. I opened my car door and was greeted with a blast of hot air. The auction was over. Despite my physical and mental exhaustion, I was incredibly joyful on the inside. 

In the week following that moment, I had plenty of time to reflect on the Auction and preparation leading up to it. As the PR Intern and an assistant on the Auction Committee, I helped prepare donated items for the Auction.  

What stuck out to me the most and what I witnessed while helping, was body of Christ in action. No single person can pull the Auction off. It takes an Auction Committee, Gateway Woods staff, hundreds of volunteers, sponsors, donors, and many others to make the event and the funds raised possible. Most importantly, it takes all those people to be united in Christ with a common goal.

That unity and passion to serve God is what I witnessed. Many of the people who help with the Auction process do so for free, sacrificing time, and yet they do it with a smile. It turns out that even though the Auction and preparation beforehand are physically and mentally exhausting, I got so much joy from just being in a community of selfless people ready to serve.

All I can say is that it was an honor to witness and serve alongside the people and effort behind the Auction. And more than that, it was humbling to see how God uses our feeble efforts for big amounts of his glory and our good.

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;” 

Romans 12:4-6