Two Sundays ago, I had the opportunity to serve; to be His hands and feet and to show some love 'to the least of these.'

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

~Mohammed Ali

Let me back track for a second, I belong to an awesome church who in the past couple of years has become a church that serves; a church that goes out into the community and tries to make a difference. We have huge service projects like Serve Elyria and the Family Fair and wonderful missions trips to 3rd world countries but there also lots of 'little' service projects that can make a big difference.

Besides belonging to an awesome church I have the best (and I mean best) Life Group (small group, community group). Our group contains 5 families totalling in 10 adults and a soon to be 10 children ages 5 and under! We have so much fun together; laughing, sharing, chasing after babies and of course, growing closer to Christ.

It is with these 9 other adults that I have had the opportunity to serve. August 1st we had the privilege of serving dinner at the Salvation Army for the homeless and hungry. We've done it before but this time it felt different; a little more real and a bit sadder than last time.

This is what we served:

Taco's with all the fixings!

Variety of homemade cookies. Yum!

And everyone did their part:

But it felt different because last time we only served about 40 people and had lots of food left over. This time we served around 90 people and had to go out and buy more food when we saw all the people lined up. Before dinner even began we had 67 people lined up; some homeless while others were just desperate for a warm meal and a kind smile.

It also felt different because last time there were only older children who came to eat. This time there were a lot more, ranging from young toddler to hungry middle schoolers.

"But the needy will not be forgotten..." Psalm 9:18

Due to a lack of a babysitter (i.e. the only person he will stay with - Nonny) baby Gabe attended as well. And it was an awesome experience to see how one little boy could create such smiles and light up the eyes of the old and young who came to eat. I think it would probably be a good idea to alternate bringing our children so that they can learn at an early age about serving but also to provide a few extra smiles to the people that come to share dinner with us.

And just like last time, we left the kitchen much cleaner than it was when we came in :) What can I say, we just love a clean kitchen.

"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded towards your brothers and towards the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11