Onto the next.

It stands today in my new city. My growth and my knowledge of just what it means to be a participant in the daily life and living here continues. Each day. I learn something new about living here. Today, the kkft made our way into Manhattan to serve at St. Joe's Soup Kitchen. The three hours we were there were over in a flash. Thanks and kudos to 'Steve' that runs the place. He made the girls feel special in their tasks. "I need a driver," he would say. And one of the girls would drive the cart full of fruit cocktail to the other end of the 'restaurant'. "I need a washer," he would say, and they would hurry to get to him and wash the table. Precious to see their faces in a serving role. I got to open so many large cans of stuff. Also got to put our hands into the spaghetti and meatball sauce and smash tomatoes.
The thing is that what I wanted to do today was lay in my bed this morning. I wanted to take the whole day and serve myself. Working each day in this city is hard core to the max on steroids. Just getting to and from work is tough, and the role of opening a brand new school is overwhelming to say the least. So many things to accomplish. If I am honest, even on the way to serve I was feeling something tug on me encouraging me to not go and serve. But I held that thought captive for Christ, and serving was the absolute best part of my week. Washing dishes so that others would get a great meal was an expression of how Jesus washes my sin so that I might eat his daily bread.
Tomorrow I will speak at the gathering-about just this. My daily bread. What that means, and has meant over the last two years. I eat the bread of life so that my freedom grows each day. I choose life. I choose serving others over serving myself. And Jesus gains more territory on the enemy that is everywhere in this great city. But today, the enemy lost. He couldn't convince me that my needs were more than the needs of others. Onto the next.