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
