BE CONSTANT IN PRAYER
What’s it like to pray with people who are waiting for food?
Over the past months I have gone over to the “Meals Of Hope” food distribution ministry that serves from our back parking lot on Wednesdays. Part of my role is to welcome and pray for the people who are serving there, but another very important part is to get to know and to pray for those who are waiting in line.
I got the idea from a previous organization I had served with that used to invite people to come in and “shop” for food at their food pantry. This was pre-COVID, and the clients would come in, get registered, and then go through the pantry with a cart and choose what they wanted for that week. While the families were there the volunteers would talk with them, get to know them, and develop a good relationship.
When COVID came this type of interaction was shut down, but the organization knew that people still needed food. They decided to keep the pantry open, but instead of having the clients come in they would prepare the bags and deliver them out to the cars of the clients.
While this was very successful in helping people stay fed, they felt something was missing. They missed that human interaction, that contact for which God has created a need inside of us! As Genesis says, “It is not right for the human to be alone.” We were designed for community!
So the leaders of the organization asked me and some others if we would mind going out to the cars that were waiting in line and to connect with the clients again. We wanted to regain that “human touch”, to look people in the eyes and say, “We see you.”
What a rewarding ministry this has been! Over the past few months I have been able to get to know some of the people here very well, and they look forward to that 2-3 minutes we can spend together each week! I confess that my Spanish is not as good as it should be, but I pray that God would use me to let people know that they are loved!
Would you like to join me? It isn’t hard – it’s just letting people know we care. The ministry runs from approximately from 1-4:00 on Wednesdays, but you don’t have to stay here that long. If you only have 30 minutes to spare, you would be amazed what God can do with that time!
If you want to shadow me for a few weeks just to see what it’s like, I would be glad to have the company! Come, let’s share the grace of Jesus in a new way!
– Rev. Bill