Hands & Feet

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ Matthew 25.40

Each year, in the United States, Convoy of Hope holds up to 50 community events with the help of thousands of volunteers who serve tens of thousands of guests. At each event free groceries, job and health fairs, and children’s activities are provided. In doing so, volunteers are given an opportunity to connect with members of their community, and guests are shown love and respect regardless of age, race, physical appearance, or spiritual condition.

Convoy of Hope (COH) is a not-for-profit organization that feeds the hungry and provides pure drinking water to people in need across the United States and around the world. To date, the organization has provided real help to 28 million people in 112 countries and 45 states.

This past weekend I had the privilege of spending Saturday morning with 9 of our Deviate students volunteering at one of these COH community events. The three and a half hours that we spent serving our community provided each of us an opportunity to put our faith into action.

The event consisted of more than 1,000 volunteers investing their time and energy to serve more than 5,000 guests. Convoy of Hope says, “Their goal at every outreach is to let every recipient know he or she is valued and respected. Each aspect of our outreaches are based on this principle.” It was an amazing opportunity to see the love of Christ in action in such an enormous and tangible way.
Our time at the event was spent with about 100 other volunteers filling over 5,000 plastic bags with groceries. Each bag totting volunteer made several trips through an assembly line of volunteers that would fill our bags with groceries. We all patiently waited in line over and over again until all the groceries were bagged.

As we made our way to the parking lot to leave I realized that neither I nor the 9 students with me had the opportunity to hand out any of the bags of groceries we helped stuff. Just as I had this thought I could hear Jesus say, “I was hungry and you fed me.”

We didn’t have the opportunity to look into the eyes of one of the 5,000 guests that were going to receive those groceries but that day wasn’t about what we were going to receive but what we were able to give. We and the other volunteers had the honor of becoming the hands and feet of Jesus. This small act of bagging groceries was creating an opportunity for others to see the love of Christ in action. When we take the time to meet the needs of others Jesus says in Matthew 25.40, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

What more could we ask for!