HARD WORK: Feed the hungry

​The first thing I thought of giving was food, I'd done this in different ways over the years. In fact, there was a time where a local Rescue Mission used to serve dinner on Thanksgiving at 10:00am. This was something another Temah and I used to do with our children. If this is an act of service that you would like to do, here are the minimum requirements:

1. EFFORT:  
You have to enter this type of giving with humility and kindness.  

2. TIME:
Be ready to give at least an hour or two.

3. MONEY:  
No supplies or money need to complete this task.

4. EXAMPLE:  
My first phone call was to the local Food Bank, mostly because I knew where it was since I'd give donations to this location before. The problem was, the Food Bank only needed help two evening a month, so I asked if there was somewhere else I could help and they told me about the local soup kitchen.

When I arrived, the group there was surprised to have someone walk in and offer to volunteer. They were an already organized bunch of people from a church different than where the soup kitchen was housed. They didn't treat me like an intruder, but they weren't necessarily excited to see me. And when they asked if I’d be willing to clean out the three refrigerators in the kitchen. I said sure. They seemed surprised.

Many people volunteers prefer the "fun" task, while I was ready to do anything to help. For the next hour, I scrubbed those three refrigerators as if God himself had asked me. Because, honestly, he had. 

I came back the next day and they let me clean trays and scrub tables. By day three I was serving food and greeting people. On Friday, I got a big surprise; the local newspaper had taken pictures and was asking for our names. I never made it into the story, but it did make me laugh. God has an amazing way of turning things around on us. If I’d begun this work to get glory, I would have been disappointed. But because I started to serve out of obedience, glory is a by-product. 

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