The Evolution of a Sandwich

It begins with several loaves of bread, jars of peanut butter, and some jelly. Throw in lots of willing hearts and what you have in the making are 400 PB&J sandwich lunches, complete with chips, cookies and a drink. These sandwiches made one by one each Friday night, are lovingly packed into hand-decorated brown bags with words of encouragement, love and some fun stickers. They are then loaded into banana boxes and packed into a 17 foot trailer, along with coolers and coolers of water, powerade and juice boxes.

On Saturday morning that trailer packed with 400+ lunches heads out to the Main Library in Downtown Toledo, where it is met by volunteers who for no other reason than to show the love of Christ in themselves to "the least of these" unpack it and distribute the contents to people who have been lined up anxiously awaiting perhaps their only guaranteed meal each Saturday.

Volunteers muster all their strength and love and put into selflessly serving people who are probably every day pushed aside. Relationships are being built and even those there for a free lunch are able to help bless others through the blessing they have received in brown paper bag.

This is Food for Thought - "a group of individuals from the Toledo, Ohio, area that believe a simple brown bag lunch can help change someone's life... When it's delivered consistently with a smile, a hug, and some friendly conversation."

This weekend Jourdyn and I were able to serve with Food For Thought and our friends Charlene, Carla and Sally. While there we ran into other volunteers that I know and love. But more importantly, we met people that we wouldn't have met in any other circumstance and were truly blessed by the encounter. On Saturday morning, we saw in each of the faces, not only a piece of ourselves but we encountered Christ in the streets of downtown Toledo.

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me'...'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:35-36,40