More than A Meal

     I have been preaching the last several weeks on Moving Beyond the Walls.  The idea of this series of sermons is to help our church family be more than a church that gathers, but to be the church that scatters.  We are trying to make a significant difference in the communities where God has placed us and I am not talking about the geographical location of our facilities. 

    We are looking for ways to interact with our communities in big ways and small ways.  We want to interact with planned events and unplanned events.  But mainly we want to see the body of Christ impacting lives on a normal basis.  We want service to others to be a part of our DNA.  Recently one of our members and a new Christian was touched by the plight of someone in her community.  I thought I would let her share it in her words.  It is entitled "More than A meal." 

It was Friday evening, August 3rd.  I had just picked up the kids from helping my mom at her garage sale.  I hadn’t been to the grocery store for a while so I really didn’t have anything to make for dinner.  I decided to pick up some Popeye’s chicken.  Daniel & Jadyn rode with me and we were just a couple blocks away from the house when we noticed a man at the side of the road holding a sign.  Jadyn asked what the sign said but as I drove past all I could read was “homeless”.  We kept driving & that man was all I could think about.   I wondered what was on the rest of his sign.  Did he want work, or money, or food?  I knew I had no cash on me to give to him.  I kept thinking that I should get him a meal.  

We got to Popeye’s and ordered our food.  As we waited I told Daniel that I was thinking about buying the man some food.  He agreed.  I remember saying to him “What if he isn’t there?” and Daniel said “But what if he is!”  I knew he was right.   I was scared & I didn’t know what I was going to say to the man but I knew I should try.  And if he wasn’t there when we got there, then it just wasn’t meant to be.  So, I ordered the man a meal.  I figured that he could use it even if food wasn’t what he was asking for on his sign.  We got our food & headed to the car.  

The drive to the place where we saw the man wasn’t far.  He was still there with his bike, backpack and sign.  The sign that I could now see read “HOMELESS.  Need money.  Please help!” I pulled into a parking lot near where the man was standing.  I told the kids to stay in the car and wait for me.  Daniel asked me what I was going to say & I told him I had no idea.  I picked up the meal & headed in the man’s direction.  His back was to me & he hadn’t noticed that I was approaching.  I called out “Sir!” and continued walking toward him.  He turned around and put his sign down.  The first thing I noticed about him was his amazing blue eyes.  They were so peaceful and gentle and such a beautiful shade of blue.  He wore a teal t-shirt which made his eyes stand out even more.  I told him that I passed him as I was on my way to get dinner for my family and that I couldn’t read all of his sign but thought he could maybe use a meal.  He reached out for my hand.  I set his dinner down and gave him a hug.  He said “God bless you” and I said “God bless you too!”  My eyes swelled with tears as I turned and headed for the car. 

That opportunity couldn’t have happened at a better time.  I had a “bad” couple of weeks – lots of little things were getting me down.  I had just come off of one of the most stressful work weeks I’ve ever had which included our National Sales Meeting and several customer events.  I had forgotten to make an appointment for Jake’s school physical and I got the dates wrong for schedule pickup at the high school.  I had to rearrange my work schedule so that I could get both of those taken care of.  I was financially stressed - I just had to buy four tires for the car; I had to pay to have a tree removed before I got fined by the city; school fees needed to be paid; and on top of that, our microwave broke.  I was frustrated and stressed. 

And then I saw the man at the side of the road.  I was very quickly reminded how blessed I am to have a home and a warm meal whenever I want it.   All of those things that I was stressing about didn’t matter. Giving that man a meal was such an amazing and humbling experience! It was more than a meal - it was just the reality check I needed!          

   Do you need a reality check today?  Why not serve someone and tell them that God loves them.  Have a great day as you reach out to someone with the love of Jesus.  Then I hope  you will share your story as well.     

Go with the Flow

Highway driving can be an adventure especially in Illinois where everything is under construction, but nothing is being constructed.  I recently took a rode trip with my 19 year old son Jameson and we traveled through several states on our way to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  I discovered that drivers are pretty much the same no matter where they are or what state they are from.

As we made our way down the various highways, we tried to pay close attention to the traffic laws.  I assume that traffic signs are put up on the road as a law and not as a suggestion.  But anyway we were constantly having to change speeds as the speed limits were always changing especially in the construction zones.

We would be traveling 70 and then all of a sudden a sign would tell us to prepare to slow to 55 as we were entering a construction zone.  I would start the gradual process of slowing from 70 to 55 only to have motorists zoom by me on their way to wherever they were going.  Some would drive on my tailgate and others would swerve by me and give me evil looks and some would give gestures and I am not talking about waving.

I thought to myself, "I thought we were supposed to slow down after all that is what the sign said."  But no one seemed to care what the sign said even if it was in a construction zone.  I guess everyone was in a hurry to get where they were going.  I found myself saying outloud to no one in particular "I hope you get a ticket."  Of course everyone knows that will never happen because the police officer is waiting on me to speed up so that he can give me the ticket.

So here I was trying to be obedient, while getting mocked, criticized and even threatened by all those around me.  What was I to do?  I did exactly what every one else did.  I sped up thinking that there was no way they could give me a ticket when everyone else was doing the same thing.

Do you think that driving imitates life?  How many times do you see someone doing something that you know is wrong, the Bible says it is wrong, your conscience says it is wrong, and even  your Momma says it is wrong, but yet you find yourself doing it anyway?  Why do we do it?  We don't want to be criticized. We do not want to be mocked or laughed at.  And we certainly do not want to be threatened.  So we go with the flow. 

Am I alone or are there others that go with the flow as well.  I mean after all if everyone else is doing it it can't be wrong can it?