On the Other Side of the Table

   I had an opportunity to help pass out food to around two hundred families last weekend. With around 10,000 pounds of food shared, approximately 800 people were helped. It was a beautiful experience. The mobile food pantry works by a truck loaded with food coming. The food contained inside on palates is a combination of canned goods, fresh produce, and items which are considered extras by many grocery budgets - like large bags of walnuts and juices. There were large ripe tomatoes that were bagged up for easy delivery. A family even had picked a truckload full of sweet corn the night before and it was also bagged and added to the stock of food.

   People started lining up about two hours before the registration could even begin. Workers came approximately an hour early to help unload the truck and set up the tables. Registration began and people passed through. Soon, grocery carts were filled with food and people were loading their vehicles full of produce.
   One of the discussions I heard going on was being on the other side of the table. It is a joy being on the giving side. It is a beautiful thing to hand out milk, tomatoes, corn, cereal, soup, and a variety of other foods. It is not always so easy to be on the receiving side of the table. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t gratitude there, but there may also be wounded pride, embarrassment, and feelings of failure. It is not always easy to be on the receiving side of gifts. Especially gifts you cannot pay back.

   And yet, isn’t that what grace is?

Splinter

About a week ago, I felt the need to pray once again, Lord change me. It’s a prayer that focuses like a laser beam on my own heart and life. Finishing up reading in Isaiah, finishing up a book about God answering prayer, I was hearing repent and restoration over and over. What was it in me, in my life that I needed to address?

Ever seen a child with a splinter in their finger? They will quite often take off across the room, yard, house, to avoid having the splinter removed. It will hurt to have it removed, the pain from it being infected will be worse. I think that admitting sin and then asking for forgiveness can be kind of like that splinter. At least it was for me this week. Mulling this over, wrestling with it, asking and seeking after God, I asked Him to change me and grow me. What I found was that I needed to first ask for forgiveness of God, where I was holding a splinter of sin and trying to just ignore it. The word malice came up. Malice? That has such a Hollywood dark flavor to it. Malice – as in wickedness and spite? Surely not!  Pride? I thought I had addressed this hurt long before. Still, a splinter remained and I needed to let God remove it. Once that was done, then that left a hole.
What now God? Amazingly enough, the book I had already been reading and the verses I had been leading up to led me to this very time. God’s timing is so perfect. The hole that is left when we ask for the sin to be removed, when we repent , can also be filled by God! He will not leave us with an open wound that just anything can go and get stuck in. I was amazed at the peace and relinquishment I have had.

By preparing me for this week, by insisting that I read these things, I have found that splinter removed. Restoration to God by God, starting with God urging me to get better – what an amazing God we serve!

Acts 3: 19-20 "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus."

Pinchy Shoes

Have you ever come to the spot in Mulan II (the Disney movie) where the princesses sing about wanting to be a “regular girl”, without having to wear “pinchy shoes”? I’ve worn those pinchy shoes before; you know the really great looking heels that are squeezing the life out of my toes (sorry guys) but make my legs look longer. You wear the pinchy shoes very long, and that is pretty much your all consuming thought. My feet are going to die and take the rest of me with them!


Sometimes, circumstances occur where we have a pinchy shoe reaction. It grates a little, then a little more, rubs us the wrong way, the blister starts appearing, the blister gets bigger and bigger, the foot gets redder and redder... Next thing you know, you are throwing pinchy shoe fits over something that needed to be addressed miles back.


When the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached Jesus about her boys and their potential (she hoped) positions in heaven, I think there was a pinchy shoe moment for everyone else there. Uh lady, we were here too – what makes you think that your sons are all that great?


Okay, I’m paraphrasing – the conversation went more like this. “When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers,” (Matthew 20:24). In other words – what a bunch of brown nosers! Notice a couple of things here, that the ten are upset with the two brothers. There is no mention of Jesus being indignant or of the mom being part of the backlash.


Instead, Jesus took a moment to point out the pinchy shoes in their midst. “Jesus called them together, and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave ...’” (Matthew 20:25-27). Um fellas (yes, I’m paraphrasing again), let’s take off that pinchy shoe of pride for a minute and talk about who is really great. Then, the response takes a turn that some might not have expected, as Jesus turns their logic on its head. Let’s go over that part again – to be great, you need to be the servant. That does seem rather backward doesn’t it? I mean, the great one has the servant. Yet, think of truly exemplary leaders, they have a heart to serve their people, company, friends, country, etc... They want to serve, they want what is best for them – not always what is best or easiest for themselves.


Jesus wraps it up with, “...‘just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many,’” (Matthew 20:28). What a gentle, yet humbling reminder that the Son of God, God in human form himself came as a servant. Is it too much to ask me to serve? When I think of it that way, then I’m thinking instead of the missed opportunities I have had to serve. Where has my own pinchy shoe of pride blinded me?