Something that has been on my mind and on my heart these past several months is how do we create servant hearts in our children, and how do we continue to grow them in ourselves. We want our children to grow up to be compassionate and giving people, people who want to show others, by their actions, what it means to serve. This is such an important part of life. We want them to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to serve as He would serve. To step out of our comfort zone of suburbia. To really SEE what it means to have needs. It is very high on our list that our boys are raised knowing what compassion for others is, respect for ALL people...
My friend Wendy saw a posting I had on facebook a month or so ago where I wrote about wanting to find opportunity for our kids to serve others...she told me about something their church does every 4th of the month and invited us to come along in September.
Friday night we met her at her church, loaded up 20 gallons of milk in the back of the car and followed her and her family downtown to the Central Iowa Shelter. Wendy's car was loaded with casseroles and fruit and rolls..oh and desserts too. We spent the next 30 minutes preparing the kitchen to serve the homeless people who lived in this shelter. We went out and prayed before dinner... over 130 of them were there waiting for the dinner window to open....and what happened next is something I don't think I will EVER forget.
That window opened and I stood by Tommy on one side and Drew on my other, both with one of my friend Wendy's little girls next to them helping. And we served every person dinner, and some of them doubles and some even thirds. :) I listened as I heard Tommy say to these people, with utmost repsect "Sir would you like a roll" and I heard Drew say further down the line "What can we give you for dessert"...I heard the boys talk sports with some of the residents, laugh at some of their cute comments. It was all I could do not to melt down in a puddle of tears. I really felt like we were SERVING just as Jesus would do if He was walking on this earth. We were being HIS hands.
To have our boys treating these men and women with the same respect they would treat anyone melted my Mommy heart. To see them smile at these people, any fear they had before the window opened was gone. They were eager to serve, they LOVED it. They were so happy to be there.
After dinner was served we were able to get a tour of the shelter from Claude, the man in charge on Friday night. We saw their living arrangements, 68 men in ONE room, about the size of our living room/kitchen area ONE bathroom. The women 28 in one room, about the size of our bedroom ONE bathroom. The vets were given separate living quarters 10 to that room with a TV and bathroom, the high life as Claude called it. You can stay for up to 90 days in the shelter then out for 90 then back, if there are beds. No closets, no dressers, there is nothing they have to store.
One thing the boys won't forget is while we were on the tour, a lady resdient came to talk to Claude. She had been taken to the ER that morning, and by the time she arrived back they had given up her bed. She was asking if she could have a bed back. The boys heard the entire conversation and couldn't believe because she was gone in the morning she came back and it was gone.
It was life changing. The shelter is always in need of a group to take a night, or to help quarterly. I mentioned it to a pastor at church yesterday and hope we can do it through church, but at the very least we plan on getting a group of friends together and helping quarterly as we can. The boys LOVED it, and I loved it. There was nothing better we could have done with our Friday night.
A lesson for our family...wish Scott and Jack could have been with us, but we will go again. The residents could not have been more gracious to us. We are so blessed in so many ways...God is good.
