Hunger Doesn't Take Holidays

Things have changed. Things are changing.

It's a challenging time to be alive, and to be called into ministering in Jesus' name.

Everyone knows Jesus. But not many KNOW Jesus in a way that would result in a changed life. And years of most churches as "holy huddles" has left folks on the outside not looking in -
or really even looking in that direction.

But we're called to love our neighbors whether or not it's easy, whether or not anyone even notices we are doing it.  To do that as if the person we were caring for was Jesus himself. Regardless of who is physically before us.

Wednesday we delivered food to people in our little town. It was July 4th. The town and most people in it were enjoying a day off and the events of the day with a big annual fireworks show at the end of it. When I was looking at that day on the calendar a few weeks ago, I wondered whether we should just take the evening off. I had a list of reasons including both truth and suspicions. It was true that the folks at New Hope could have enjoyed a break. We don't have many people, but we have people who work hard and give of themselves every week. It might have been true that lots of the people we regularly deliver to were not going to be there. Might have been. 

When we packaged the meals, we cut the number by 15 because we really thought some people wouldn't be home. We'd never delivered on a holiday before. 

As we delivered, we had people tell us "we didn't realize you guys would be here today." Walking away from the house of an elderly woman who received the 6 meals as she does every week, I shook my head wondering if we were wrong. Maybe people would be home after all.

It happened again and again. "Oh you are here!" "Don't you know it's a holiday?" or some variation. When we met up with Frank and Diane Weech at the low priced rentals we call "the Blockhouse", we only had 8 meals left. We wound up leaving what meals we had with them, then going back to church and getting more meals twice to meet the needs. We learned something - Hunger Doesn't Take Holidays