No Thank You

I guess I have some catching up to do.

A couple of weeks ago I was back at the soup kitchen in Jackson. My sister has started working there too, and that night we decided to ride together. We weren't that early, but the people that had the keys to unlock RIFA were a little late. Which left us standing outside on the street with some of the people anxiously awaiting their supper.

And, to many people's probable surprise, they didn't bite :)

I met John, who was a very tall and thin blind man with a beard that looked like he belonged in ZZ Top. His friend, I think his name was Jake, stood beside John the whole time, with his arm linked to John's. John did most of the talking; he was a very friendly person. Jake just stood there sucking on the last dregs of his cigarette, quietly looking off into the distance. But when it was time to get to go in, it was Jake that I saw Jesus in. Jake was by John the whole time, never letting go, always slowing up for him, and watching out for his every step.

I think that, when I am blind, Jesus is my Jake.

We served out hot plates of lasagna to the delight of many of the homeless people there. But when I was done serving for a while and got a chance to sit down, I of course chose to sit down with John (Jake was nowhere to be seen after he had sat John down; I thought it was weird at first, but just wait to hear the rest). I was really enjoying talking to John when a stranger came up and sat next to me and him. He didn't look at me, but just started talking to John. At first I thought he was a volunteer because his clothes weren't too shabby and he knew John by name and spoke to him kindly. But then Jake came back to the table and sat beside us. I turned to Jake and asked him where he had been, and he said that he had been in the chapel (the small room adjacent to the dining hall) praying. At this, the stranger perked up and, after choking down some more of his free lasagna, said, "Praying.. Yeah right. If you believe in all that bull s***."

My first reaction was one of anger. I didn't say anything, I just tried to keep talking to John and Jake. But even after I left the table and went back into the kitchen, I couldn't forget what this man said. How dare he come into a Christian-run facility where good people serve him a free, hot meal and curse the name of the God that they are doing it all in, with no "thank you" at all!

That's an understandable train of thought, right? Until I thought about it more in coming days...

I have started to realize that I do the same exact thing as this stranger

every

day

of

my

life.

God gives me so much. And I think that that is the biggest understatement in the history of time. America is blessed beyond belief, and for some reason so many of us think of these blessings as being entitled to us. But they are NOT. They are gifts from Him, graciously poured out, and we consumed His blessings and, more often than not, turn around and curse His name by sinning against Him, despite His gifts, and at the very least we do not say, "Thanks."

That's a problem.

Later that night, I was talking to a man in the chapel who seemed to be very uncomfortable in a "spiritual" atmosphere. It was obvious that he was coming off of a high, and it was a little bit difficult to talk to him. But eventually he opened up about his spiritual frustrations, and began cursing religion. When I asked him what it was about religion that made him so mad, he replied, "Because they [religious people] don't see us as humans. It's like they don't even care. We're people, man. We're people!"

And I think that that's the answer to the problem.

God has given us so much. And I think that the best way for us to say, "Thanks," is to turn around and see the other human beings on this earth as PEOPLE, and bless them with our blessings for the souls that they are.

Say "Thank you" to God by doing something for someone else today. You may not get a "Thank you" in return, but in that state of not receiving any gratefulness you will be more Christ-like than ever before. He pours out blessings without expecting any return, and so should we.