Starting off the new year right

Saturday was our first food distribution of 2011, and the first general distribution from our new facility. We had earlier facilitated 180 cases of high-nutritional-density "Manna Packs" to Club Dust, who serves working poor families living along the railroad tracks just east of Tijuana. That was a fairly simple exercise for Hilarious Givers; the food had been obtained by People Helping People, and Club Dust picked it all up at once. Piece of cake. But Saturday was different.

We missed a month in December; during Christmas season many churches get involved in outreaches of their own, and we were occupied with moving into our new digs. So we were apprehensive over what success we would have in our first distribution from our new facility. We shouldn't have been; things went smoothly, two new missions were added to our list of supported programs, and kids are being fed.

The numbers: 14 missions and feeding programs supplied, 1,428 kids being fed, roughly 2 1/2 tons of food distributed. But the numbers are only an imperfect measure.  Better to think of the lives touched, the children who are being fed; not just rice and vegetable soup, but fed spiritually. Kids learn of a loving God, who cares about their needs and meets those needs through the kindness of strangers.

What a blessing to be called to serve these little images of God!

Hilarious Givers: Packing Party Musings

Hilarious Givers: Packing Party Musings: "We had our first packing party at our new warehouse on Saturday. For the first time, we could open our doors to families who came ..."

Packing Party Musings

We had our first packing party at our new warehouse on Saturday. For the first time, we could open our doors to families who came to volunteer - not just the teen and near-teen sons who come with their dads to learn about serving and giving, but actual families. So besides the youngsters moving bags of vegetable soup mix from 300 pound drums to 50 pound sacks, there was a young mother herding her toddler around the office. Instead of just the guys who came to hurry through the task to get on with their Saturday routine, the ladies came and had a chance to fellowship with other hilarious givers.

What makes this important? I think it shows a certain maturing of our mission. No one would have even thought of bringing the little ones before. But now, nobody thinks a second thought about it. Kids are watching, and parents are building memories of Mom and Dad stepping up to help the less fortunate among us.

So, we prepared loads for something like 20 missions and feeding programs for this month, probably about 6,000 pounds of nutrition for needy kids. And we helped prepare our own kids for a future of service in His name. Not bad for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning!

The Family of God

What a joy to share this weekend with my family! Not the one I grew up in, not the one I married, but the one that God has led me into.

Not that I dislike my birth family or my wife or kids - quite the contrary. I cherish all that, and am thankful for each of them. But Debra and I spent this weekend with our church and mission families. We laid the foundation for this year's outreach to the orphans and other needy kids in Baja. We were joined by groups from Eastlake Church, Rancho Vista Church, Momentum Church, and an Assembly of God church whose Spanish name I don't recall. Friends from Lake Elsinore and Ramona in Riverside County made the trip to help out. We started early Saturday morning and worked through Sunday evening. And now, this morning, our first shipment of food will be arriving at our new warehouse.

This is what it must have been like when our ancestors held community barn-raising parties - everyone working toward a common goal, nobody seeking the easy way, but rather searching for the difficult task to complete. It was a lot of hard work, and could not have been accomplished without the dedication and motivation of a lot of generous folks.

We're changing lives in Baja, and feeding hungry kids. Thanks, God! Good job.

Just like Christmas Eve.

When my brothers and I were kids in Washington, Christmas Eve was a delicious combination of anticipation and frustration. We were not allowed to even peek at the presents under the tree. Mom would get upset with us for shaking presents to see if they rattled. We wanted to stay up to check out the sleigh-and-reindeer thing, but Dad would shoo us off at 8:00 or so to go to bed. We wouldn't sleep, of course, but we were out of the way.

Six decades later, here I am. I woke up this morning thinking it was Saturday. Nope, it's Saturday Eve! Tomorrow morning I get together with some of my mission family to kick-start our 2011 program. We're going to descend upon the Borders Bookstore and claim a bunch of warehouse shelving, desks, office chairs, and odds and ends to take to our now-empty warehouse. Then off to the warehouse to set it all up. I scarcely can wait! And another brother has located some additional heavy-duty shelving which he will bring to the warehouse tomorrow, as well.

On Tuesday, our first load of food is scheduled in, and sometime next week we hope to move the food we have at our Pilot Freight/Miramar Transport location down. We'll have about 20 pallets ready for a packing party next weekend. 6 pallets are already designated for feeding programs in the La Mision area, and the rest will go quickly - some to Maneadero and La Zorrillo, some to Tijuana, some to Tecate. Lots of hungry kids will get fed. And so the year starts!

Debra has hired a team of exterminators to make sure no food goes to rodents - a pair of warehouse cats. All we need is a fireplace and it will be just like home. (I wonder what kind of animals we men would be if God had not given Adam his tender partner, Eve.)

As a kid, I don't remember ever being disappointed on Christmas morning, even though during some of those years finances were pretty slim. I was delighted with new clothes and school supplies. Now, the blessings are grown-up. I have never been at a place in my life where I have been more blessed than during these past few months. Side-by-side with Debra, circled by generous and helpful friends, with a family of thousands of precious kids. And directed each step of the way by a loving and caring God.

So, God, are you going to tell me what's in store for Hilarious Givers this year? Not even a peek? How 'bout I shake it to see if it rattles? No? OK - I'm off to work. I wish I knew what gifts are in store for us, but I have faith that they will be beyond my wildest expectations.