Monday, November 19, 2012

Mac and Cheese Miracles


There is a place in Houston, in the 3rd ward to be exact, where miracles happen every day. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. God is working at a little school called Generation One. I’ve had the privilege to be part of a group that provided lunch for these kiddos and the staff every Friday for 6 weeks. It is a small, peripheral role, but I really thought I would be helping and blessing these kids even with this limited involvement. But as often happens with these things, I was totally wrong. In doing nothing but walking in, saying hi and delivering sack lunches, I was helped and blessed more than I could ever give back. It all started when a friend of mine decided that she could get together a bunch of women out here in Katy, TX, and provide lunch for this small Christian school. In doing so it frees up a chunk of the school’s budget and makes a place for a few more kids. Gives a few families a little more hope for the future of their children.
On the second to last week my group decided to do a hot lunch. It was nothing fancy, baked macaroni and cheese (recipe courtesy of the Pioneer Woman – thanks, Ree), baby carrots, homemade bread, and juice boxes. My friend and I headed down to Generation One armed with what we thought was plenty of food to feed about 56 hungry mouths. Ya’ll should know that I’m a worrier by nature. Each week I count and recount lunches and check and re-check names against the roster. The minute we unloaded the food in the kitchen and started heating, I looked around and knew we didn’t have enough. It just wasn’t as much as I thought it would be.  As my friend Shannon drove the first set of lunches over the building that housed Kindergarten and 1st grade, I was near tears in the kitchen praying. In this neighborhood there isn’t a drive thru you can run to and pick up extra lunches. There isn’t even a grocery store. If we didn’t have enough, it would be disastrous. We could go get more food, but someone would be eating late after we’d had to drive down the highway, and it would be obvious that someone got left out.
About that time a staff member came over and had a request. There was a small business meeting at 11:30; could we make 5 extra plates? In despair I knew there was no way we had five extra plates, but I didn’t have the heart to say no, so I said yes and prayed this would somehow work out. I don’t think I’ve ever chanted “loaves and fishes God, please just give me loaves and fishes” with that much fervency. I’m sure you can guess what happened next. We filled every plate for every class, every teacher, and every staff member. I looked up and we had a half a loaf of bread left and a half a tray of macaroni – just enough for 5 extra plates. And as it so happened, I had just enough extra scripture verse cards that each plate also carried a “love note” from us (what the kids call the daily scripture they get in their lunches). But God didn’t even stop there – there was enough bread for everybody in the meeting to have not one, but two slices of homemade bread. I had been the most worried about the bread, because I made it, and I was terrified my offering would fall short. What kind of God pays attention to those kinds of details?

Miracles – they happen.

As we were finishing up plating a young man I’d seen walking around the school came in with one of the school leaders. When I say young man I mean he couldn’t have been more than 17. I assumed he volunteered there, worked there, was delivering something, etc. But no, he was introduced to us as the father of a precious little girl in the preschool class. He had come to the school to conference with the staff because he was worried about his daughter and wanted to know how he could help her with her schooling at home. He wanted to know how he could be more involved. Here’s a boy, no more than a kid himself, who lives in a neighborhood with very little hope and desperate poverty, and he’s showing up to be a dad to his little girl. It made me wonder if I could be so strong in the midst of such circumstances.  What kind of resolve does it take to be a responsible, 17 year old dad in a neighborhood where such a thing may not always be valued? I have prayed for that young father every day since. He looked at our plates and asked what we were making. When I said mac and cheese his eyes lit up. Doesn’t mac and cheese affect everyone that way? There’s just something good about it. We offered him a plate, because of course, no surprise by now, we had enough for one more. I don’t know if he took it after we left, I hope he did. If anyone deserves a hot lunch made with love, that young man did.

Miracles – they happen.

I tell you this story to remind you of a few things. God is alive in our world. He’s working hard in places we never see. Every time I leave Generation One I feel unworthy. I couldn’t figure out exactly where that feeling came from, until a friend of mine explained it – because that’s where Jesus is. In a small school, in a poverty-stricken neighborhood, I’ve been in the presence of Jesus. I am unworthy to be there, but by his grace I can be. I can be blessed by more thank you’s and Velcro hugs and delighted smiles from children than any one person deserves.
Second, as you celebrate Thanksgiving this week, give thanks for this moment, right now, and let go of your worries, even if just for a day. Don’t think of what you will buy at black Friday. Don’t worry about what Santa will bring. For your life just give thanks. We have so much. We have no idea what poverty is. We have no idea what goes on in the corners of the world, even in our very community. Until we see it, we sometimes can miss the light God is shining in those corners. The light he wants to shine on us if we but give him the chance. So don’t worry about tomorrow, just live today and every day in gratitude that there is a loving Father who makes sure everyone has a plate and a place at the table. If you get a chance, give something to someone else. It really is in giving it away that the biggest blessings come.
And even if your table is not the turkey feast that many of us associate with Thanksgiving, even if you have nothing but simple fare, give thanks. Because I’m here to tell you, God can do some amazing miracles with nothing more than mac and cheese.

"People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” Luke 13:29-30


If you'd like to learn more about or support Generation One, please go to https://www.generationone.net/donate. Or if you're in the Houston area and would like a tour or would like to get involved in the lunch program, please contact me. We would love to have you. :)

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The Morning After...

This morning following (and leading up to) the Presidential election, people are being so ugly on both sides of the fence. Jen Hatmaker took a beating on social media last night for trying to be a voice of reason. I unsuscribed from and hid from my news feed on Facebook friends from both sides of the aisle, because I simply could not stand any more vitriol and hate. Talk of secession, assasination (yes, from normally semi-reasonably intelligent people), gloating over republicans and rubbing their faces in it, calling people bigots and gay-haters because they happened to support Romney, and worst of all, claiming you couldn't be a Christian if you stood on one side or the other, depending on who's viewpoint you agreed with. It's all too much. I'm seriously considering a Facebook fast. 

I want to ask people today, what changed, really? Our house is still here. Our mortgage is the same. Our bank accounts, precious little though they may be, are the same. My car still works and the back end is still wrecked. There may be economic change in our future. I hope there is. But it's not happening today. And nothing we can do will change the Kingdom calendar anyway. It's a matter of faith. 

Many other things remained unchanged that have nothing to do with the economics of you and me. People still live in tent city in Haiti. Children in the 3rd ward of Houston are still hungry and their parents are still without hope. There is still work to be done, and most likely it won't be done by any one government or president. It will be done, or not done, by you and me. But mostly, I am thankful today. This beautiful morning I woke up and the sun rose. My son is sleeping in after waking me up at 5:45. I spent a long time in prayer and thought because of that early rise. I'm thankful for everything, down to cats that live a long time and sit next to me while I pray. I'm thankful for my marriage, my family, my home. Tim still has a job and today I'm still a stay at home mom. I'm thankful for our country, for the men and women that defend it. I'm thankful that in our country, change can and does come. I'm thankful that I'm not in charge of that change, in any way shape or form. 

I prayed for our president. I prayed for humility, kindness, understanding, acceptance, wisdom, and love - both from him and for him. I prayed for his children and his wife. I prayed for his marriage. I will never forget Dr. Mann preaching at Riverbend after he had prayed at the National Prayer Breakfast when Clinton was president. It was right in the middle of the scandal and he said Clinton looked like a broken man. Dr. Mann said he walked over to him, put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Mr. President, I believe in you. I have faith in you, and I pray for you every day." He said Clinton got tears in his eyes and hugged him, and could barely get out the words, "Thank you." Presidents need our prayers. They have feelings and desires and hopes. They want and need people to believe in them. In my heart I believe they all really want to change the country for the better, and they all aspire to do so because they love America.

We are all just people, even those in power. We are all loved by God, created by Him. Not one of us is more right, better, more loved, or has God's ear more than the other. I wish I could find a way to say that on Facebook so that people would listen, but I know they won't. So I prayed for healing and a settling down. I'm sure every election year is like this. I'm sure the people who hated Bush felt the same way when he was elected as those who hate Obama. There is always a winner and loser and if you live long enough, your side will lose. We forget how to be gracious winners and losers in our adult lives. We teach our children to congratulate the winning team, shake their hand, and keep their heads up in defeat. My dad always taught us to be gracious in defeat and in victory. Somehow as adults it's become ok to forego basic human courtesy and decency. I hate the lines that we draw in humanity. Racial, sexual orientation, religious, economic, political party. Jesus doesn't draw lines, he never has. He just came to love us all, and that was his greatest commandment to us before He ascended to heaven. That if we were to call ourselves His followers:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34

"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” 1 Timothy 2:1-2 NIV