$2/day CHALLENGE: DAY 20

Line of people waiting for a hot meal at Father's Heart

One of the suggestions to a successful run to the $2/day challenge was to experience a day at a local soup kitchen. It has been 20 days since I've had 3 meals worth more than $2 but instead of eating at a soup kitchen, I eagerly volunteered at one. Now, I have been volunteering at Father's Heart for about a year now and have met some of the elderly, working poor and neighborhood people who stand in line to receive a hot meal.  The difference is that I have enough to make a hot meal (most days).  I have been doing okay at home making my rice and beans, mixed green salad with tuna, oatmeal and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so I did NOT participate in taking a meal of pineapple chunks, 2 eggs, 2 pieces of turkey ham, some potatoes and a sliced piece of wheat bread. I was, however, in charge of cooking the turkey ham and potatoes and it was amazing. We ended up feeding 632 people in a span of an hour and a half and still had plenty left over.

God works in such amazing ways and I am grateful every time I spend a Saturday morning to see his work come into play. I spoke to Pastor Perry about the program and he shared the same sentiments. People who come through the doors of Father's Heart is led there because of the love that God has for them. We hear, over and over during the orientation that our "Father wants us to come home." It's okay to go astray after being hurt or feel abandoned by him because of the loss of a job or shunned by family members, but his heart is always open whenever you're ready to let him in again. The hope and faith that he instills in us is constantly being challenged when we go through difficult times and the loving staff at Father's Heart reaffirms that God is always there-through the good AND especially in the bad. We just have to hear him knocking to door of our heart and let him in. I have been knocked down a few times in the last, almost 5 years of living in NYC but God has never abandoned me. I've shut him out a few times in the course of those almost 5 years but coming to Father's Heart this morning reassures me that I'll continue to be looked after.

Even through this difficult challenge, I can see him working through me and around me and I wouldn't have it any other way. If you are reading this and don't believe that there IS a GOD or something orchestrating the goings on in your life, that's okay. I have been there. I can truly say that I once felt alone- even with a thousand friends on facebook and myspace, even friendster and a rolodex full of names and numbers. However, cultivating a lifestyle with Christ in mind and people around me who ARE believers is SO much better. I am not here to convert anyone but genuinely testifying how my life has changed with a mere belief that GOD died for us. ME, even. I have done my share of denouncing Faith and religion, especially after losing my father when I was 7 and experiencing sexual abuse and neglect growing up but all those things happened to get me to the place where I am now.

My mother and I

My brothers and I

I have 10 more days that I am committing to this challenge and a little over 4 weeks before I run a half marathon here in NYC. If you are interested in partnering up with me in Celebration Generosity or the World Vision half marathon, please click on these links: WORLD VISION donation page and Celebration Generosity

Thanks for taking the time to read this and supporting my efforts to seeing the world change, one day at a time.