Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Every Prayer Is Necessary




As those who know me personally know, I was born to cook. I never met a recipe I didn't like .... or an eclair either, for that matter, but that is a subject for another time. So, it comes as no surprise that I do a lot of cooking ... for Yah's feasts, for Shabbat and most recently for the soup kitchen in town.

The soup kitchen here is run on some funding, but mostly, on love. Various area churches take turns preparing and distributing the food. Our congregation handles the second and fourth w'days. Plans are in the works for there to be a second location to feed the homeless on the west side of town. Those that work with me on soup kitchen days are service to the kingdom in action. For us, w'day is the extension of Shabbat. On Shabbat we learn Torah, on w'days we DO Torah. We not only prepare, package and deliver food to the homeless of Lake City, we also fellowship with those that come for a meal. Sometimes, we can only share a smile, other times, it is a full fledged conversation. We also have a brief prayer of thanksgiving with them before the lunch boxes are served. And yes, we do Torah the other days of the week too, but somehow, w'days are special.

I have often said that if YHVH has appointed a task, He will anoint us for the task. That is certainly the case with our cooking for the homeless. No fingers have been cut, no backs have been wrenched, no hands burned while working for our King. He is more than gracious and we praise His name!

Especially since today could have been so different.

As it has been our habit, we pray before we package the meals. This is the gist of what we say: “Our Father our King, we thank you that You have called us to this service of feeding Your lambs. Thank You for keeping us safe as we have prepared the food, and now we ask that You keep us safe as we deliver the food to the people. Help us to share Y'shua's love to all that we meet. We pray that you bless this food to their bodies and our actions and words to the benefit of their souls, b'shem Y'shua. Amein.”

We bustled around filling the boxes with food; toting the boxes to waiting pick-up trucks to bring the food downtown to the waiting people. We were anxious about running late. The last batch of tater tots were due out of the oven at 11:30 and we were usually fully packed and down the driveway by then! Our delivery crew left the kitchen around 11:50. While those that stayed behind at the kitchen cleaned and straightened, the delivery crew made its way across town ... and then came to a full halt. There had been an accident and on its approach, one of our trucks almost slammed into a stopped vehicle. But YHVH is gracious and not only did they escape injury but they were routed past the stopped vehicles and made their way downtown with no further incident. It seems that had we left on time, we might have been part of the original accident! We are ever so grateful to our King! Had there been a collision, not only would there have been injuries, but it would have effected dozens and dozens of needy souls waiting for our arrival.

We praise our Father and King for His love and mercy. And we thank the Ruach Elohim (Spirit of Elohim) for inspiring the words of the prayer and for hearing and responding to it.

And we're glad the tater tots were late.

Shalom b'shem Sar Shalom / Peace in the Name of the Prince of Peace --
Blessings and hugs -- yocheved