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| #31days of Missional Meals |
When mission becomes routine
it is often easy to forget how much of an impact we are capable of having on
the lives of the people we are trying to love.
I was reminded of this truth one night at the local cigar store where I
used to work. When I worked Joy and I made a habit of cooking a homemade meal for the employees about once
a month in order to love and serve them.
Most of the people I worked with were 18-24 year olds who were living on
their own and didn’t eat homemade meals very often so this was kind of a big
deal to them.
Over the years, we have had
many opportunities to get to know these people on a personal level, hearing
their stories, their fears, their hopes and dreams. We really saw the impact that taking a few
minutes and preparing a homemade meal for people could have on our ability to
gain access and validity into their lives.
Even now that I have left
the company we still continue to make meals for them once in a while in order
to maintain those relationships and get to know the new employees. It was during one of these times that I was
reminded of just how big of an impact these meals could have on someone.
As we brought a home-cooked dinner l into
the store I recognized most of the guys working that night but there were a
couple of new guys that I wasn’t very familiar with other than just a few
casual conversations when I visited the store.
One of those new guys was a very out-going and friendly guy but very
vulgar and very upfront with his views against religion. I had never had a one-on-one conversation
about his views but I had overheard a couple of conversations before and gotten
the gist.
When we set out the food and invited the guys
to dig in he stood back and waited to eat last, but before he went to get his
food he pulled me aside and asked why we had done this. The question caught me off guard because in
all the years we had been bringing food no one had asked me this question
before (I think everyone was just happy to have some good food brought to
them). My mind was racing as I attempted
to formulate my thoughts into a cohesive and brilliant summary of the Gospel
and Joy and I were serving these guys.
However, on that day,
eloquence was not going to happen and what came out of my mouth was
essentially, “My wife and I are Christians and we think that part of living out
the Gospel of Jesus includes loving people.
We hope this food is a sign of that love.” I’m sure the words were far less articulate
than those sentences just conveyed, but the point got across nonetheless.
He looked back at me with a
face that expressed both doubt and bemusement, but he replied with, “I don’t
f***ing get it, but thanks for doing something nice for us.” It wasn’t the earth-shattering sermon
illustration that I might have hoped for but it brought me back to the reason
we were doing this in the first place.
Food was a foot in the door
for us. Meals let us have an opportunity
to sit down with people and share an experience that gave us access to their
lives. It was a stepping stone to tell
them about the life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ. A few dollars out of our pocket and a few
minutes out of our lives gave us a chance to be the hands of Jesus to people
who desperately need to know our savior.
Jason is married to Joy and together they live as
missionaries in Downtown Orlando. Jason loves cigars, spicy food and
football any night of the week. He dreams of churches that meet in
unlikely place like cigar lounges and bars. Because if Jesus ate with
sinners why shouldn't we?
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