The young man, I’ll call him Too Tall,  was very tall and very large - like a college football lineman - and staying at our downtown Urban Peak teen shelter. He flashed a wide smile and said to me, “Thank you! No, not today. My mom is picking me up and taking me to breakfast!” and then he threw both hands into the air and clapped. His excitement was contagious, and all of us standing on both sides of the kitchen serving window couldn’t help but smile and respond with affirmation. I was there at Urban Peak preparing and serving breakfast, which I do on behalf of FUMC twice each month. Too Tall was responding to my usual, “Good morning! How do you like your eggs?”  

Joy Fredrick, one of our FUMC members, was serving with me that morning. She made it even more special. Joy has a perpetual smile, wonderful sense of humor and beautiful southern accent, which lightens my heart every time I’m with her.  As we were washing the dishes together after breakfast, I asked Joy, “So, where did you see God show up this morning?” She brought my attention to how delightful and compassionate the U.P. social workers were that morning. I shared about my moment with Too Tall -- how I would savor his celebration as a reminder that even a simple breakfast with family is the Divine drawing near.

Perhaps you have a hunger for such God-moments. If you are interested in helping FUMC share God’s grace with our homeless teenage neighbors, shoot me an email or call me (todds@fumc-cs.org / 884-2502). Join me on one of the following Monday mornings. We’ll meet at U.P. at 7am. We’ll cook, serve, clean, have a prayerful chat about where we experienced God showing up and you’ll be on your way around 8:45am. If you find this something you would like to do more than once or twice, Urban Peak has a volunteer training that they will be happy to lead you through. We’ll also be helping U.P. with their lunch-time mobile outreaches down the road. Here are the breakfast dates:

January 11, 25
February 8, 22
March 1, 29
April 12, 26
May 10, 24