I feel like this one simple card changed my whole outlook--and it was Josh's card. It required a team effort, which was also no coincidence. Josh's challenge was to organize our Life Group to serve a meal to the homeless camps downtown. This would be done through a non-profit that was already involved in the camps. First, please don't read this and think, "wow--they are awesome for doing that" We are not even on the awesome scale. Please think-"wow, GOD is awesome." We wouldn't have gotten through this process without Him, others guiding us, and we have an amazing Life Group.
"How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!" Psalm 47:2
The first part was just figuring out what to cook and how to feed 80+ people. It's cold here, so we settled on bean soup, cornbread, fruit and cookies. Our kitchen turned into a crock pot extravaganza and nearly 4 full days before going downtown we turned out kitchen into a bean soup factory. Have you ever wondered what 80 (OK, only 78) corn bread muffins look like?
I used nearly every bowl I had to soak dry beans....and borrowed crock pots to keep them cooking. For 24 solid hours we had bean soup cooking. Thanks to our rotating schedules I'd get a batch started and Josh could finish it at night, start a new batch, which I could finish in the morning before work and switch things again over for him.
I wish I had pictures of the assembly line that packed all the meals together. So many hands working together--we had everything packaged in no time.
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work." Ecclesiastes 3:17
To serve the meals, we met the non-profit and a few other groups that came to help downtown. From there we caravaned together to the camps. The non-profit has a great relationship with most of the people who live in the camps so they were expecting us. In some lots, we would pull up and no one was there---within minutes word was out that we were there--and it was busy. The emergency shelters are closed now since it's officially spring--whether mother nature knows it or not, so this meant more campers.
At each stop we circled and prayed before distributing food or other necessities. During one stop a camper wanted to pray--he had such a passionate, heartfelt prayer. He had so little yet was so thankful.
There was lots of bread--thank you to the bakery that donated literally laundry baskets full of bread.
At our second stop, the campers allowed us to take a quick tour of the camp, if we wanted to. I'm not sure what I expected but it wasn't this. It was primitive and it reminded me of pictures I had seen in National Geographic of another country. Yet, this was 50 yards off a road that I've driven many times before.
OK-so here is where it gets real--don't judge me. I know about homeless camps--I know about human trafficking--I know about people who are hungry. I've seen the banners, posters, given money and food to the cause many times, BUT this is the first time I had actually been there. This is the first that I've seen it nearly in my BACKYARD--in MY city. It was unsettling and uncomfortable. Let me be clear--the people did not make me uncomfortable. The fact that this is happening today, here, made me uncomfortable. I can't think of too many times that I've felt uncomfortable.
I had been so worried about getting the food ready that I didn't take the time to think about what we were actually doing and where we were going. I was more worried about how Josh would handle things. Once we arrived, I didn't know what to say or what to do. I stuck with my good friend from our group like we were attached at the hip. It dawned on me very quickly that this didn't bother Josh in the way it did me. There was also a paramedic in our group and when I asked them about it, they said it was because they see this every day. It wasn't that they weren't bothered by what they saw--it just wasn't breaking news to them. They easily slipped into professional mode and dealt with it.
Someone had literally popped the bubble I had been living in.
Suddenly, I was very much so out of my comfort zone and uncomfortable. It was like my boots were stuck in the mud and my mouth was full of peanut butter. I feel like half the time I just watched in shock and amazement. The comment was made that this is what being the hands and feet of Jesus is--I sure didn't feel like either since I couldn't seem to get either to move.
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ...In fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?"
1 Corinthians 12: 12, 18-20
I'm thankful the veteran volunteers knew exactly what to do and in some way expected shock and amazement from the newcomers.
At one point, the leaders noticed a potentially horrible situation. For her safety, our group left quickly as she was being watched. A few people went back to find her but she was gone--the man watching her was not. It breaks my heart---I guess I come from a different mind set and background. I didn't understand why she didn't hop in the back of the van, yelling for help. We would have taken her far away to safety. Why didn't she scream for help? Why? Why? Why? Why is this happening? What is wrong with people? How could you hurt another human like that?
For now, I pray and hope maybe next time we can do more for her.
I am confident I was moved out of my comfort zone because it's where God wanted me on that day. It's good to be out of our normal zone--there is so much to learn out there. It was a Father's gentle nudge in an area I needed to see and be active in.
This day made me realize how incredibly cruel and hurtful humans are to each other. Something I had now seen first hand, where before I merely only heard about. But it also confirmed what I thought all along--People are still incredibly generous and loving towards others.
"Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 13:9b-10
