GoNow has a New Meaning

Since we travel so much and are only able to spend small amounts of time in a city, we aren't able to really connect with the people in a way that we see how we have impacted them. However after we have left I can definitely say that everytime they impact us or at least me. My favorite stop thus far that we have served at was in San Angelo. Here we were able to spend much more time in one ministry than we had previously been able to serve. By this I mean that even though we are shown many different areas of service and work there with the people we never spend more than an hour in a place at one time. However here at the soup kitchen we spent our entire morning with the people cooking food for homeless and people that are just down on their luck. When we arrived there was only one lady there who was only supposed to stay to open the door and then leave. After we were shown around we got a call that the other team was not going to make it and panic spread across most of our faces since we had no idea what we were supposed to do and none of us had never cooked food for a group of the size we were about to feed. Therefore the lady that was supposed to go decided to stay and assist us in our endeavor to cook. We began to divide up chores and set to preparing the afternoon meal. After about two hours of preparation for the meal it was time to begin letting the people in to be served. They lined up and were served enchiladas to start with and soup if they wanted. As the enchiladas ran out they were given meat and potatoes and spinach with rolls. Then came the three giant trays of spaghetti that we had cooked. The previous two entrees were cooked previously we simply heated them. As the people filed in, we saw young good looking people, older folks shuffling in , families with little children and people from al different backgrounds and not one of them was denied a meal. All of the meals were hot and every plate was served piled high. At one point we had to stop serving because there we not enough seats for everyone to sit. I mostly stayed in the kitchen to help with random tasks that would come up and I wanted to go out and talk to the people so badly but I couldn't conjure up the courage to talk. I am a shy person and so I stayed in the kitchen until the very end. I felt terrible because I know how much most of those people just want someone to talk to, I figured the girls that were out there were enough. I got to thinking this should be easy for me to do since I do the same thing at the Salvation army in my college town, but I couldn't until I went out to eat myself. I made a plate of food for myself and went to sit at a table where there was a man and his son sitting. Almost immediately I was having a great conversation with them as if it was natural. It made me feel better about myself and even though our conversation was cut short I was glad I had gotten to talk to someone. I wish it had been longer but that was what I got for waiting. What I learned looking back was that these people don't have forever to wait on us to go and talk to them. They are there for an instant and leave just as soon. We can't sit on the sidelines feeling sorry for ourselves because we're scarred to talk, if these people don’t hear and you were right there to get the message to them, then shame on us. God didn’t ever sit in the kitchen and wait till everyone was gone, he didn't even second guess himself he dove head first into the crowds without a thought and I hope and pray that I can have the courage and the wisdom that God had. People are people no matter where you go and they are more like us than we would often times like to admit. I know that if I was that person sitting alone I would have loved to talk.

Dani :-)
Isaiah 6:8 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"