Jumping into the action
August 28, 2026
By Jeff Becraft
Years ago, I was on a week-long camp with a children’s home. Halfway through the week on Wednesday, the leader of the group, Tom, asked if you had helped to clean up after a meal… whether it was in the kitchen, washing dishes, wiping down tables, sweeping floors, whatever, to please stand up.
About two thirds of the room stood up. I was not one of them. I felt like crawling under a chair. Some might say, “Well, you’re the speaker at the camp. That’s your job.” Well… that is a short-sighted perspective, although I probably would not have recognized that until that moment. Perhaps I was thinking… “I have other things to take care of”… not sure what I was thinking. I will tell you what happened, though… after lunch that day, I jumped into the action.
And I had a blast.
One of the greatest jobs to have is being in the dish pit. They used to have two sinks and we had two teams of people, each team working one of the sinks. There were four people on each team. So, it was like two dish-washing bobsled teams going at it side by side. It was an electrifying atmosphere.
They have now replaced the two sinks with one big industrial sink with this industrial sprayer, which we now call the “car wash.” You will get wet washing dishes in the car wash. In fact, now a lot of students will even wear swim goggles if they are going to work the car wash. It is typical to have the theme song from Car Wash playing during the escapades.
The reality is, by me not being in that action, I was the one missing out. It’s not just getting a task done, it is the camaraderie, the fun, the atmosphere, the accomplishment… and the task does get done.
So ever since that first year a long time ago, on a regular basis… somewhere, somehow… I am usually trying to jump into the action and help with clean up after meals.
Because… the fun is in the action.
Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope(opens in new tab) located in Columbia, South Carolina, where people find encouragement to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. Jeff has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. If you would like Jeff to speak to your group or event, you can connect with him at [email protected](opens in new tab).
