I have always held this well-formed idea in my mind that a soup kitchen serves...well, soup. This morning I learned otherwise as our team served hearty meals to roughly 100 men and women at Bethel Gospel Assembly in Harlem. Aside from the ridiculous amount of fun our team had serving together, as we have the entire trip, Jesus really continued to magnify some of the many things He's been showing me while being His hands and feet in the city this week.
Something I came into this trip expecting to happen, but nowhere near to the level that it has happened, is the forming and growing of relationships within our team. It has truly been crazy how much I have come to know these people of character. While before I may never have said anything beyond small talk to a couple of the guys, now we share hours of laughing for no legit reason until our stomachs hurt, inside jokes, some new vocabulary (reference the "legit" I just used), and most of all memories made while serving the One who brought us all together to begin with. God has the greatest ideas sometimes.
Another thing that God has kept at the forefront of my mind this week is learning what it means to value people. Not valuing them because they like what I like, believe like I do, or appeal to me for some reason; but because Jesus loves them with an unimaginable depth and fervor. And how can I claim to be in an intimate relationship with Jesus if I don't love what He loves the most- His people? I find it ironic that we (maybe it's just me, but I get the feeling I'm not alone) so often revolve our mindset around the people who make us look good, while Jesus (you know, that guy in the Bible we want to be like) was more concerned with those who offer Him nothing whatsoever and could "dirty" His reputation.
To expand on a quote from Horton Hears a Who - People are people, no matter how small, poor, rich, smart, disgusting, or downright mean they are. God doesn't love us because we are lovable, for we are anything but; yet He loves us because He is Love itself, love incarnate, love moving and living and breathing. I cannot look at a person the same way again. There is a Jesus-crafted life inside of that individual, even if it is entirely dead and waiting to be awakened to a reality of inexplicable purpose and fulfillment, it is there none the less. There's no skirting around it- loving God and loving people are directly proportional.
God is working on me so much on this trip, and I know He is in the rest of the team as well. I could go on for hours just delving into it all. Gosh Jesus is faithful. He really is good, all the time.
-Carrie Haufler
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