Tonight we had the pleasure of serving with one of our church partners, Buffalo Evangelical Free Church at their annual Soup Supper to seniors and families in Buffalo, MN. What a blessing it was to see the body of Christ at work greeting folks, playing tic tac toe with children, serving soup and cookies and praying with them. Santa even showed up with Jesus pins that he had handcrafted himself!
One of the most impactful parts of the evening was serving a young family that was one of the first to arrive. A mom and dad, 2 daughters and a son. One of the little girls was dressed in her mom’s high heals and a fancy dress and was tickled to be there with her family. The other little girl and the boy sat quietly and ate their dinner as did the mom and dad. After several bowls of soup, a whole loaf of french bread, and salads I went to start clearing the table and the mom said “I can do that” and told her we were there to serve her and asked if I could get her some cookies or ice cream. She gladly accepted my offer and they each took desserts and this mom just beamed. You see, she had come in looking pretty defeated. Her head was down and she had a hard time making eye contact. This family was obviously in need of more than just the food that was served. They were in need of someone to love on them and show them the love of Jesus. When I cleared the dishes after dessert the sister without the high heals asked this “Can I volunteer to help too?” My heart melted! She didn’t want to be helped, she wanted to help. We gave her and her brother a little job serving cookies to the seniors and they donned Santa hats and served like champs. After a little while, a couple older gentlemen that were also sitting at the table started to play tic tac toe and hangman with the kids (they were done serving cookies now). They must have played for an hour. They were almost the last ones to leave. This family that had walked in seeking out a hot meal, walked out with head held high and a spring in their step. They left their prayers on a prayer card for the congregation to pray over but they took something with them that we hope will make a difference. They took love. It will be a long time before I forget this night and honestly I hope I never do. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through this Christmas season. Pray that they find the love that Jesus has for each of them.
It always seems that we are more blessed than the ones we went to bless. Tonight was no different.
Rob and Jackie Passer 