Feeding Others...Leaving Full

I didn't exactly know what I was getting myself into when I told my small group that we were going to start serving our community one Monday night a month.

We all agreed and said we would brainstorm what we could do. We decided to do something different every month, and we'd all come up with ideas.

Well, tonight was our first "serving" night, and as of this afternoon, we had no game plan. None. Not even a suggestion. I made a decision before I headed out to small group, that we were going to go serve somewhere no matter what. It would have been a lot easier to stay in our small group and go about our normal Bible study and prayer routine. But it's not what we said we would do.

It was Maggie who suggested we head downtown to feed the homeless. I was honestly not sure it was the best idea. Let's keep brainstorming.

In all honesty, I often tend to want to serve the sick or the needy, but rarely the homeless. I don't know why. It's just the honest truth.

When it came time for us to head out, feeding the homeless was the winning idea. So we headed to downtown Oklahoma City.

We stopped at McDonald's for 15 cheeseburgers, 15 chicken sandwiches, and 15 fries, and at Taco Bell for 30 tacos. We had two cars full of women and an hour to pass out sixty meals.

We prayed with the windows down in the McDonald's parking lot for God's love to be shown tonight. Then we drove.

Into dark alleys. Down streets with no street lamps.

And for every meal we handed out, we asked for names. Names to match the eyes that often looked at us like we were crazy for handing food out the window of our Tahoe. Six crazy women in my car just hoping to make someone else's night a little better.

"God bless you."

"Have a good night."

Words that have new meaning after tonight.

One man walked up to us and said "Jesus is King!" before we handed him anything. "Yes He is!" we all replied.

There were a few we passed by and others that we turned around to go back for.

I don't know why or how these people ended up living on the streets. I do know that they were once someone's son or daughter.

I know that sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes our  circumstances overtake us, sometimes we get overwhelmed.

I know we didn't change anyone's life tonight or even make their circumstances better. But maybe we brought a moment of hope, a moment of love.

We fed others tonight, but I'm the one who left feeling full: full of the blessings that surround me.

And my outlook changed. My circumstances suddenly became better than I thought they were at the beginning of the day. Just a little perspective.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'  Matthew 25:34-39

.....day 45 of a year of writing....

(Tomorrow I'll have a winner for our Much Ado giveaway. Want a chance to win? click here)