Goodbye corporate America, my mind is having to shift and wrap around this new world of homelessness and hungry.
What stood out the most initially is that while I am not surprised the men are polite and respectful, I am surprised at how polite and respectful they are.
Some want to share their stories, follow me around and help me with things to talk and have conversation. In two days time, I feel as if I have a team of men that are willing to help out in any capacity. Others keep their distance, sit back and watch.
I feel as if I don't have to lift a thing. There is always someone anticipating, willing to jump in and insist they do it. I allow them to be a gentleman and I watch their worth and pride puff their chests. Not to be a helpless damsel in distress, because that is not my nature, I am quickly learning these men need self-worth and contribution. The shelter and meal ministry is very much a community.
Men you would pass in public and never know they live in a homeless shelter and others you can see their hard life on their face.
Each of these men have a skill, a dream, and a purpose in life. Their means have been stripped away by their own self-destruction or by bad circumstance.
Their stories are beginning to be trickle out and their personalities are vast.
It has been an interesting and enlightening couple of days. I step back and look at this opportunity I have accepted as employment (seeking significance) and ultimately see the significance of responsibility this position holds.
I will be training for two months then the meal ministry will fall 100% on me. From securing food and donations, planning meals from the food provided, sometimes cooking, often serving hands-on in the dining services, conducting daily devotionals, overseeing the volunteers, working with a revolving door of volunteers who are there to serve out their community service with us, to the every day details of the meal ministry and as a key player in the growth the ministry wants to grow in.
To lead in a community where the needs are great ... I am asking for strength, guidance, blessings, favor, and power from heaven. Heaven knows I will need it!
