Well, really, it was supposed to be a light day for pantry work. That's the day that I wanted. That's not the day I got.
On the one hand, we are in a remarkable season where it seems God is moving and growing and changing things in some ways that will come out great on the other side. I feel like we've been through this cycle before, and that overall God is molding this ministry incrementally.
That said, this is the time in the process where things feel like they are moving very quickly, and a lot happens at once.
So, today.....
I had an appointment after work today for 1 guest who was at work during our normal hours. I tidied up a bit, got her paperwork ready, and had the stage all set for a smooth and quick appointment.
While I was waiting for her, a group of 3 ladies just showed up thinking we were open. If I hadn't been there, they would have been turned away by someone else and asked to call me or return next Tuesday. But since I was right there, with the pantry open, I felt like I needed to help them.
Turns out, they just ran into someone in public who told them we were open today. I don't even know what caused them to have that conversation. We used to be open on Wednesdays, but changed that this summer, so I assume the person talking to them had old information. Still, these same ladies had just visited us on a Tuesday a few weeks ago. I remember there were some issues with them at that time. Sadly, not everyone we work with makes it easy. That doesn't mean they don't need our help, and it doesn't mean that we should not show them grace. It does mean that to be good stewards of the gifts we have to share we have to be a bit more vigilant with some people. I don't enjoy that. As it is, these folks did not provide all the required address verifications that we ask for, though we do usually give people 2-3 visits to produce this information. It's all about grace. I strongly suspect that at least 1 or 2 of the 3 are lying to me about their address and living situation in an attempt to get more food. (I suspect they live together and are claiming 2 households. That happens.) I am hopeful that spending one on one time with them will inspire their future honesty with us. It's hard to catch things when we are super busy, and it's hard to have uninterrupted conversations.
So that added a good chunk of time on to that portion of my day, and left me fairly frustrated.
During the course of the morning and afternoon as I was at work and seeing these appointments, I got at least 4-5 phone messages. I lost count. I got at least 1 more this evening, and numerous hangups on our voicemail. I'm guessing the hangups are people calling to listen to our outgoing message to see if (a) we are open next week and (b) we mention giving out turkeys (we are not).
One voicemail was from our senior pastor. He had gotten in the loop on the temporarily homeless couple I have been working with over the past week. He wanted to hear more about their story. It was a nice chat about a variety of issues, both pertaining to these folks and to general operating practices. He approved a substantial gift to get them on the road.
To follow up on that, I spoke with our finance administrator for a bit, and then had to borrow a staff church credit card to run up the street to buy gift cards.
Tomorrow, on the day I try to always stick to as my day off, I will have to go get the cash the pastor wants to share with them because the way the office is staffed on Friday I will not be able to get it. The theme of today (and now tomorrow) seems to be that sometimes the simple things just get really complicated.
I called the man from Vermont that we are trying to get home. We had a really frank discussion. I let him know the good news that they would hopefully be home by the weekend, along with some extra funds for food and sundry items to help them on their journey. We talked about scams. I told him all the ways I had worked to verify his story. They are either entirely sincere and we really need to help them out of this mess, or they are excellent cons. I have found nothing that suggests the latter, so we are going with the former, but what they do from here is out of my hands. He seemed to appreciate my honesty. I think that's a good sign. I also reminded him, just in case the latter were true, that I would undoubtedly hear if they were still in town a few days from now.
I am sincerely glad our church stepped up on this one. He said they had been to countless churches in the area asking for help. They have a journal with all the places they have been and asked so they could keep track. He said most said "no," and he knew as soon as he left the building they would never think about them again. He was touched that our church not only didn't start with a no - even though we gave them a "wait and see" - but so that he knew that ever since he met our administrative assistant last week and talked to me on the phone that they were being cared about. He knew we were thinking of him, even if we weren't getting him home. I told him about how many different people had asked how they were doing after I shared their story, and how they really were in people's prayers, hearts, and minds. That's the whole point.
Money, food, whatever.
We genuinely cared about this couple, and they got it.
So, moving on from that.....I got a call from a gentleman (well, 2 calls actually) who can't drive. His daughter picks up food for him, so call #1 was about leaving out some food at the welcome desk for tomorrow. Call #2 was about an ongoing issue with his power bill that he is actively trying to resolve. He originally called asking for assistance, which I'm sure meant he was hoping we would help pay the bill. Well, that's not how this works. I went over some options with him, called Dominion on his behalf, and got him started on a process to get an extension so he could pay his bill. He is very on board with this process, but I think he was feeling a little lost and confused in it today so he called to see if I had some answers. I don't. I told him to call Dominion tomorrow.
Despite that, he was so gracious. He said he has attended several churches that talk about how much money they have but don't reach out. He was so grateful that he found in us a church that is actually willing to do something to help people in the community. Note that we have given him no money, just a few bags of food. We have not resolved his power bill issued.
He was grateful that I listened, that I tried, and that a represent a church that supports a ministry where sometimes that's all we give.
We cared, and he got it.
So, really, I think when I sat down to write this post I wanted to gripe a bit about the long day that wasn't supposed to be. But what a picture of how good God is.
What a day.
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