Week #1 – 6/26/12

WOW!  Except for the fact that I was so pumped when we arrived that I forgot to pay the parking meter, everything went great!  (Thankfully, I did not receive a ticket).  We packed 25 lunches and ran out before we were all the way through the park.  Few things we learned:  keep the lunches simple, hit the bus stop bench first and be thankful for the rolling cooler!  The bus stop seems to have the largest group…several who don’t necessarily get on or off of the bus.  This is where we quickly learned that we should hit this bench first based on our encounter with a man we affectionately referred to as ‘Mr. Cranky.’  He was very displeased that we were out of lunches.  Bless him…I’m cranky too when I’m hungry.  Thankfully we had packed our own lunches in the car and were able to get those and give some to him.  We also realized that it probably doesn’t matter how many lunches we bring, we will run out.  No one refused a lunch this week.

Before

Getting excited and also having second thoughts.  The kids and I are geared to start passing out our lunches every Tuesday beginning June 26^th.  I have been praying about this for a while now.  I feel as though God has definitely affirmed that this is what I am supposed to be doing.  It started last summer when my first thought was to walk around downtown Indy close to the Indians stadium and pass out lunches.  Shane nixed that idea with the fear of our safety…I was disappointed but it was understandable.  :)  This year I felt the same nudge but for a specific park near the Central Library.  I am fearful of failure, but also confident that I am being obedient to God’s will.

The Beginning

The summer of 2011 my family and I parked the car and set off walking to Victory Field to take in an Indians minor league baseball game.  On our way we passed a homeless man who was asking for food.  He wasn't begging for money.  He was just looking for an extra PB&J that someone might be willing to share from their cooler.

That image stuck with me, and after a lot of prayer I took my idea to my husband.  The idea was this: pack a bunch of PB&J lunches and take them (with my kiddos in tow) downtown to the area around the stadium and pass them out once a week.  My husband understandably had some concerns about me and the kids being in that area by ourselves.  I didn't really give the idea much more thought after that.  Honestly, looking back, I think it gave me the excuse to let it go until.....

About April 2012 I was reading Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian by Gary Haugen for the Curriculum Team at our church.  While reading (and being ridiculously challenged (shoved) out of my comfort zone), the PB&J idea crossed my mind again along with a specific park in downtown Indy.  I had seen homeless men and women in that park before and I knew that was the spot.  It was a very central location, out in the open, and when I mentioned it to my husband he was all for it!  I have no doubt that God planted the thought of that park in my mind that day and to even take it a step further I don't doubt he led me to that particular book as well.  The details He weaves together are amazing!

That was the start.  I began praying like crazy.  Some of the prayers were **are you sure about this, God? **seriously, a PB&J, God?  **what is this really gonna do?  Nevertheless, I pushed forward.  It became very important to me that I be able to continue to serve these men and women on the same day of the week every week for an indefinite amount of time once I started.  After a lot more prayer, and time and working through the details, my kids and I set a start date of Tuesday, June 26th.

I have to be honest.  There were many moments that I second guessed the idea.  Mostly, I thought it almost seemed too simple, silly even.  I even received a few comments from people to that effect.  BUT as I continued to pray about it, I knew God was pushing me to this and Satan was trying his hand to push me away.  And so on June 26th my kids and I set off to East St. Clair St. and Meridian to deliver our first cooler full of PB&J's.