LORD of the Streets

Yesterday I woke up at 4:50 to go into Houston with my mom to feed the homeless in the area. We went with our church in Katy – Church of the Holy Apostles. It’s an Episcopal Church. After Gene Robinson, the gay bishop, was consecrated in Connecticut a few years back, our church home in Bellville had a bit of a falling out. Whenever I am in Bellville, I worship with my parents in Katy. It’s a wonderful church filled with the Lord. But I digress.

I was in complete meditation the whole way into Katy. Due to some recent events, I didn’t feel that my heart was in the right place to serve. I just couldn’t serve food to the homeless without being in the right place with God. Due to the circumstances, I can’t expand much on this but I can say that by the time I got to the church, the spirit had been renewed in me and I was ready to serve.

After arriving at the church in Katy, we waited for everyone to get there, then in a caravan of cars, left for downtown Houston. We served at another Episcopal Church – Trinity. Before serving breakfast, we had the chance to join the church service with them. It was so wonderful to be in worship with the very people that we would be serving and to see the love they had for the Lord. Granted, some were asleep. I’m sure this is the only day they are able to sit in a comfortable pew with either the air or heat on, depending on the time of the year. But they know if they come to church, they get breakfast afterwards. For some, it’s the only full meal they will have all week. So maybe God is using food to get the people to church, but they’re there, aren’t they?

We took communion with them…from the same bread and the same cup of wine. It was such a good feeling to share this with them. Not many got up to take communion, but it was great to share with the ones that did. Some that didn’t take communion chose to have a healing prayer prayed over them from the preacher.

Now I must say something about the preacher. There couldn’t be a better man for the job than this very man. Sadly, I don’t remember his name. But he was so great with these people – his congregation. He truly is a shepherd looking out for his sheep. Apparently there was an episode last week where they all rushed to the tables during the closing song. The preacher made sure to remind everyone that they would all receive food and that it was rude to just leave during the song to go get the food. He said if it happened again, he would make sure that table was served last…so after the song, everyone waited to be dismissed.

I was a hot chocolate pourer all morning. These people loved their hot chocolate too. I couldn’t keep it coming fast enough. And after every cup I poured, each one said thank you, miss...or God Bless you, miss….or you pray for us and we pray for you…things of that nature. They were so grateful for the food and drinks. There were two little children there too. I don’t know if it was their father, but a man always made sure he had my attention in case the little ones needed some more to drink.

After everyone had enough to eat and drink, they left, we cleaned up, and then we took sack lunches to some people that hadn’t shown up. There is a place under a certain bridge than many of these men (mostly men) live. I have taken stuff to them before with my family so I knew where we were and what to expect. On Christmas Eve, my family took coats and blankets to them. That night it snowed in Houston. This day we took food and water and within ten minutes, they had basically wiped us clean. All except for a few bottles of water and sack lunches that were saved for another part of town. We went and delivered this food after departing the bridge.

There were just a few men at the final location. We handed out the food and water to them, told them it was going to be hot and that they needed to stay hydrated. They were grateful and like the previous location, everything was gone within ten minutes. Actually here it was more like five. There was one man who had everything he owned with him on the side of the sidewalk. He was in a t-shirt and boxers…said he had just washed everything because he didn’t have anything else to wear and that was the reason for him in his boxers. He was a very nice man.

We returned to our church in Katy, attended Sunday School and the service. It’s amazing how much we accomplished before 9:30 in the morning. How much time do we waste each day sleeping or watching television, or doing nothing at all? I will admit, I do need my sleep or I can’t function, but maybe I do need to reprioritize my day. More often than not, I find that I am “too tired” after working to just sit down with God. I say my prayers and read my Bible, but how much time do I actually devote to him? I mean really to be with him? Not enough, that’s for sure. I can’t feed the homeless everyday, but there are other things that I can do.

God has given me a servant’s heart and I intend to use it in the ways he has planned for me. I am so grateful.