Boxes of Love

For those of you that are active in the world of blogging, you would probably point a loaded shun in my direction. I have had a couple people that I have talked to about ministry stuff mention that they have been on my "blog". Does anyone else feel their face getting red? It has been months since I have posted...
Back in the saddle.
Tonight I joined up with a couple of small groups from Epikos to deliver all of the cake boxes that were collected at Epikos and help to put together some of the boxes up to the point of dropping in the chickens. Here's Life Inner City Milwaukee organizes this food drive each year and supports local churches and organizations to help out families in need. This is the 4th year that Epikos has helped out with this event and we can staff a pretty mean assembly line.
We heard a story from Diane De La Santos (does that mean Diane of the Saints?), the executive director of City on a Hill about how they use the boxes that are delivered to them. 60 of the 500 boxes we helped to put together will go to the families of children who are involved programs at City on a Hill. She told us of a little girl that is part of the Kids Klub program and stays after to take part in a praise dance class. Last week she offered to take the girl home and found that the block that she lived on was blocked off by police because of a shoot out that happened with this girls house right in the center. Because she was involved in the programs, she wasn't in the home when the shooting was taking place in her street. Her family is one of the 60 that will receive food for Thanksgiving.
We get insulated even as we are living in this city from the dirt and grit of the street and when we can, we pretend that all is well in the world. This was an opportunity to serve in a single event by raising up loads of cake, but there is so much more that we are called to. How do we get closer and closer to the pulse of the people in the city? What can we do to understand how to better serve and love our neighbors? I want to encourage you to think beyond doing something good during the holidays because you have been blessed and start to understand that everything that we have is God's and that he wants more from us than church once a week and service once a year. How do we start to win back this city? How do we bring unity to the Church in Milwaukee to make this a Kingdom city? God desires that we be salt and light in the city. He loves the poor, the broken, the sick. Do we?