I have to admit, I wasn’t thrilled with how today was playing out. It started great. I was out the door early, in Appleton early enough to swing through Manderfields Bakery with plenty of time to make it to the office, but then things started to veer slightly from the plan…
I got a phone call and had to run a quick errand, then another urgent issue cropped up sending me out once again. Now I’m late for staff meeting, my double shot red eye (coffee with 2 espresso shots) is barely warm still, and my pecan pudding cake is being abandoned! Staff meeting was supposed to be short, followed by a quick production meeting to nail down details for the sermon series in January and I’d have time to hammer out the to-do list before 1pm… Not today! All the meetings ran long and before I knew it I was dropping off my stuff in my office, grabbing my bag from the bakery and jumping into a car to get to my 1pm appointment while still on the phone trying to tie up lose ends that should have happened in the time I thought I would have between meetings!
I say 1pm appointment, but it was something much cooler than a meeting. Today I got the privilege of delivering meals to people in need here in the Fox Valley. This was something I was looking forward to for awhile, but I found myself being annoyed at how far I’d have to drive and how long it was going to take. Then I started to meet the people…
It was such a blessing to me to see the people I see all the time on weekends, but to see them on “their turf.” I was walked through houses to be shown bathrooms they were remodeling, told Thanksgiving plans of how they would be seeing family from miles away, and heard stories of some rough circumstances in life that led them to where they are today. In short, I got to be a pastor!
I got convicted about my own priorities, but it happened in an awesome way! After delivering a meal to an apartment complex there was a man sitting outside the building smoking a cigarette. He yelled, “hey, you guys from the church?” We answered yes and he began to tell us his story of how he went to a local church a couple years ago because they had a meal for people in need. While there, he recited a poem he knew from memory and if we had a few minutes to spare he’d love to share it with us.
Now I’d love to say that I have a huge heart for stuff like this and was really excited to listen to him, but truth be told, I wasn’t expecting this to be any good anyway. The guy wasn’t dressed extremely well and kind of slurred his speech so reciting a poem couldn’t be too earth shattering, right?
But because we said we were from the church (maybe terrible, but true) we felt we had to let him recite it and he dove in…

I WAS BLOWN AWAY!!!
With each phrase you could see his confidence grow until he almost had the flavor and passion of a spoken word piece! For about the next five minutes he shared a poem that reflected the parable in Matthew 25 where a man was expecting the Lord but gave clothes and food to those in need. At the end of the poem the main character was frustrated that he had not seen the Lord, but He replied to him (as quoted in Matt. 25:40) “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

God used that guy, not even the one who attends Pathways Church and received a meal, to completely keep my priorities in check! It may not have been what I planned, but it was a great day… Because I was able to bless people in Jesus name, and it was what God planned!

So during this Thanksgiving time, I pray that each of us remember to keep our priorities in check.  Enjoy the food, enjoy the family, but in everything, remember to fight the urge to be “inward focused.”  You may surprised how blessed you will be by serving others during this time!