ThanksGIVING

"God is Great, God is Good;
Let us thank Him for our food.
By His hands we all are fed,
Thank you Lord for our daily bread, Amen."



I must've said this prayer a gajillion (yes, that is a number) times when I was growing up. It was "The Blessing". As I was just washing dishes tonight, I was thinking about what it means. I don't think I really ever thought about the words as a child. It was what we said so we could start eating! When we got old enough to understand what "The Blessing" was supposed to mean, we said our prayers in our own words.



Today my family experienced a first. Every year, our church buys food and gets volunteers to go to Soul Burger in Huntsville. (A restaurant on Triana Blvd) There is turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, desserts galore....THE WORKS. They set up tables and feed anyone who wants to eat. This is mainly an outreach to the homeless in the area. We signed up this year and decided that the boys are old enough to understand and maybe learn a little from an experience such as this.



I knew we were in for questions when another kid at church told Brennan and Tanner that...well...the people who come to eat don't always smell good (that's putting it nicely). Tanner couldn't seem to process this thought. "How come they don't just take a bath?", he asked. So, as best I could, I described what some of their situations might be and that they live on the streets.

It went very well. Darrell and I both were able to serve plates for about half an hour. There were actually more volunteers than there was work to be done. What a blessing! The boys helped hand out drinks also. I look forward to doing it again next year!

So many of us go through life with our homes and cars and jobs and food on the table and on and on.... and never think about what life would be like without all of these luxuries.



For the next four days, my family will have "Thanksgiving Dinner" almost everyday. These people got ONE dinner - this YEAR. Maybe the only hot meal they've had in a long time. Maybe I got more out of our family outing today than the boys, but hopefully today did instill in them a sense of what it means to serve others.



Thank you, Lord, for all of the many blessings you give us!