One HELL Of A Meal

This past Sunday, Christ The Savior, went down to Meet Me Under The Bridge to be with our friends that are homeless or are on the fringes of society. We go down there the third Sunday of each month and even though it was rainy and nasty, the smiles on their faces were very bright today. They were thankful to come into a garage building and have a dry place to rest for awhile and have a meal. With it being Thanksgiving week, we decided to make a full Thanksgiving meal.

We had over 20 families that donated food this month. We had one small group leader who had her small group (teen girls) make take-away meals for them. My wife and one of her works worked hard to put the meal together w/o the use of the kitchen. We had crockpots and roasters hooked up to every outlet that we could find down the educational wing.

We had 17 individuals in 5 cars loaded up with 140 lbs of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was a great feast for them.

As I stood by the trash can lifting up the lid and putting the lid down so people could dispose of their plates; one of the older gentlemen put his arm on my shoulder and said, “Jeff, that was one HELL of a meal, thanks.”

In a since, it is “tough” work organizing the meals, getting the volunteers coordinated and then spending 4+ hours commuting and serving and fellowshipping. But, on the other hand, it is really so simple and the sacrifice (if we can even dare to call it that) is not that big. But, the rewards are so immense. We are truly blessed to be able to serve with them.

The other conversation that I will remember from this past Sunday was from “Jim”. As he stood next to me taking a bite of the pumpkin pie; he said the following: “Jeff, the only thing that could make this meal better would be if this pumpkin pie was a sweet potatoe pie”. He then smiled and shared his early memory of going to his granny’s for Thanksgiving and had sweet potatoe pie in her kitchen. I love stories.

I am so thankful that we are blessed enough to give our friends one HELL of a meal.