Palm Sunday Options

April 5. Now in most places that means Spring. And here in Nebraska I thought we might be heading in that direction also. But today was a brief reminder of where exactly it is that we live. Here in the Heartland, April 5 can mean sunny and 70 or we can experience what we received this morning. A cold, wet, rainy, miserable morning and the chance for snow, which did indeed turn into snow. Now the nice thing is that we know it won’t last. It’ll be like a southeastern snow day. Here one day and gone the next. But nevertheless, we still have to deal with these elements here in Omaha on occasion. The transition from winter to spring is not always as smooth as we’d like it to be. But at least we’re not in Fargo.

So we head downtown and the cold, wet snow follows us all the way down. Now one thing I always keep in mind when the weather is not exactly cooperating on a particular Sunday is the fact that we’ve never been shut out. Not once. Never been rained out. I’ve written about our experiences with weather before. The time that it absolutely poured on us as we made our way downtown. Torrential rainstorms all morning. But when we got downtown? The rain stopped. In fact, a big, blue whole opened up in the sky above us on that particular day and the rain stopped. A couple hours later, the rains came again in truckloads. But on that day and for that window, the rains stopped. And I’m absolutely convinced that was God welcoming us into the park. Today? Well, technically it didn’t rain. The funny thing is it rained all night. And I woke up to rain this morning. I (and Robin) prayed that He’d give us a window of opportunity today to serve. And of course He did. Now today there were no blue skies. The weather forecast at noon was for snow, North winds at 32 miles per hour and 32°F. So my hope was that at least the rain would turn to snow. It did. It wasn’t pretty, but technically it wasn’t rain either.

Smaller crowd today. As it turned out, a downtown Italian restaurant was offering a free meal to the homeless and impoverished folks in the downtown community. We didn’t know about it ahead of time, but someone told us after we showed up. In fact I heard a fellow telling some of the guys waiting to be served that they could head over to Vincenzo’s and have a nice spaghetti dinner. I have to tell you I felt a sense of "get the heck out of here" rise up in me. Some weird kind of stupid "ownership" deep within that wanted to tell the guy to beat it. I mean, here we are week after week you want to show up one time and take our friends away? Now stay with me here. I do have a point to make. I think. So as I hear the guy offering a fee meal in a WARM, DRY restaurant, I think to myself (as I’m scattering to try to catch all the stuff that a 32 mph wind blows off our serving tables), "Self, I’d go for the spaghetti dinner in the WARM, DRY restaurant". But you know, a funny thing happened. Obviously, lots of the people that normally frequent that corner on Sundays were doing just that. Because it was probably the smallest crowd we’ve had in a while. When we first approached the corner and I saw the few people on the corner waiting, I thought the weather was the culprit. And that was ok. As long as our friends were taken care of. And then my mind went to the great folks from St. James. The church that prepares the entire meal on the first Sunday of the month. And that would be today. And here we are with only a handful of people to serve. And the rain that was falling earlier? It had indeed transformed into frozen H2O. And we had lots of food to serve. Chili, soup, sandwiches, chips, cookies, and the list goes on. But somehow, the people started to come. And some even pulled double duty. Eating spaghetti and then showing up on our corner to partake. It was an interesting Palm Sunday. Not many palms, that’s for sure. But it was good. And the fellow who was offering a free meal in a WARM, DRY restaurant? Well, he couldn’t have picked a better Sunday to make this kind of offering. Who knew it would be cold and snowing on April 5th? Today? Our friends had a choice. And that’s always a good thing. One fellow once told me that if a guy had trouble finding food in this town, well he really wasn’t trying. Today, our friends had options. And like I said, that’s always a good thing.

Our friend, the messiah wasn’t there today. He must have been enjoying a nice plate of spaghetti. Maybe with a side of nice warm Italian bread? Who knows? But others were. And one thing that makes me swell up with a sense of Godly pride is that fact that people will show up on a downtown street corner to have a meal regardless of the weather. They still show up. I certainly hope they show up because they know Who sends us. I pray that message gets across through our actions. And our words. I wake up on mornings like this and I feel a sense of challenge. Where I can hardly wait to see what’s in store for us. Today? I guess it was a more intimate gathering. And you know, a funny thing did indeed happen. For about an hour, those 30+ mph winds did indeed die down and the horizontal snow that was swirling earlier just fell harmlessly from the sky. Water? Technically, yes. But so harmless in the big picture.

Next week is obviously Easter and the forecast is…you guessed it! Rain. Another downtown restaurant normally offers a nice big Easter meal to our friends also. And we also plan on showing up with a nice big Easter dinner. I think if a different restaurant wanted to make it competitive, we could give them a run for their money each week. And in turn, we’d give our friends options. Yeah, I think that would be a great thing. Hmmm…

The Lord says to his people, When the time comes to save you, I will show you favor and answer your cries for help. ~Isaiah 49:8

Peace, have a great and blessed week and make a difference.

…it matters to that one… :)