Overflowing

Luke 6:38 "Give, and you will receive. You will be given much. Pressed down, shaken together and running over, it will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you.”

Yesterday, around 3:00, some men in a truck drove into our yard. They had just come from a wedding, and the back of the truck was full of HUGE pots of food, and they were giving it away to us. :) So we ran and got as many large pots as we had and they filled them with spicy rice, plain rice, a yam dish (apparently only rich people can afford yams here), and some sauce/dressing stuff. It looks like a thick sort of soup, but you pour it onto your plain rice to give it flavor :) Also, we filled two large pots of some sort of dessert: rice cooked in sugar and milk. It's liquid so you drink it, but it is very sweet. In the end, we had 14 or 15 pots full of food. Clearly we had too much for just the 45 of us! We kept three pots of rice, some yams, and a pot of the soupy sauce; but called the neighbors to come and partake in our abundance. We sat on the porch with the large pots around us, as many kids came bearing empty pots and containers. Once the containers were filled, the kids would run home, empty them, and bring them back. :) I was always so excited when we would empty one of the large pots! :) We were out there giving food away until the girls came home from school and the sun had set. We ended giving over half of it away! But since everyone wanted rice and yams, we had a pot of the sweet milk, and a pot of the soupy dressing stuff left over. Finally, we washed off the food stained porch and sat back and relaxed :) I love that I was able to be a part of something so beautiful and simple as giving to the needy from our abundance. You don't need to go to a different country to be a missionary. Even in the business of life, we are called to love and serve those around us. It can be hard at times, but giving should be an expression of love. Not a chore. Not because it's on your "to do list." But because the Lord's love overflows from within you and pours out to those around you.

Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"