365 Days of Service

Day 14 - June 24

Once a month my team (one other staff person and myself - ha!) volunteer to serve at the food and clothing pantry sponsored by LifeChurch.tv. It’s an incredible opportunity for team-building (yes, just the two of us can build each other up) as well as to be the face of the church, the hands of Jesus, and to show the love of our Lord and Savior. It’s also an incredible workout. I’m not kidding. Have you ever served at a food pantry? This is not an easy job. There are boxes and crates stuffed with canned goods and baskets full of pasta and rice and peanut butter. I mean, take the canned goods off your shelf in your pantry (which you probably put there a few at a time), box them up and move them around to different areas of your house. Do this about 300 times in a few hours. Sweaty? Tired? Good, you get the picture. But in all that, looking across the counter into the face of the single mom, the elderly neighbor, the young child or the disabled woman, you don’t care how sweaty or tired you are. You don’t care that you’ve just had to pack about 20 canned goods, 20 miscellaneous items, breads, paper goods, fresh fruit and veggies, meat and drinks into 3 paper sacks. (Yes, 3 - conservation is the name of the game at a food pantry). Suddenly you’re looking into the face Jesus describes in Matthew 25:41-45 - the “least of these” - and you know that you’re there for the right reason. You’re there simply because Jesus has called you to “invite in”, “clothe” and “look after” the ones that others will not. You’re not there for “team building” or to feel better about yourself or even to socialize. Working your tail off for God is a higher calling and it’s one that I love to be called to. I am so grateful not only for the church for supporting the food pantry, or the staff there, but also for the least of those that I have an opportunity to serve and to learn from. Every time I am there I look into their faces, I hear their stories, and I pray for their hurts, desires, or health and I am blessed. Thank you, God, for placing the least of these in my path and for the blessing of being able to follow your call to look after them. Continue to bless me and my team in this way.

Then…. I came home and made dinner for myself and our friends who had their second baby last week. I am going to take them a big fat spaghetti dinner tomorrow (that’s what momma would do). After Ryan and I ate dinner we sat on the couch to watch this week’s One Prayer message online at the Internet Campus. I was serving in my usual role of “Live Help”. I didn’t really get to interact with anyone there tonight. I did follow up with the girl I met last week by email, but I haven’t really seen a response from her. I’m not sure if she’s seeking any help from me or not. It’s okay though, I know God will use that relationship if it part of His plan. After that I met with my online LifeGroup and discussed missions. It was an awesome conversation with people who are like-minded when it comes to missions and living “missionally”. It was uplifting. I finished the night with the blog. I’m exhausted. It’s bed time.

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed