Happy Thanksgiving!

The spirit of Christian giving was everywhere as annual Thanksgiving Day meals were provided for the homeless at numerous faith-based organizations along Downtown Los Angeles' Skid Row. The L.A. Mission had it's usual large showing of celebrities including regulars Kurt Douglas and his wife, Ann, who served up all the fixings to crowds of 2,500 or more. The mayor served up food at the Midnight Mission's Thanksgiving blessing and the Union Rescue Missionhad the Bold and the Beautiful cast and many other local or community players serving up or donating for the event.

I paid tribute to the memory of my late brother (a chef) by donating $2.03 to provide one homeless person a meal this Thanksgiving at the L.A. Mission. I plan to do the same this Christmas for all the Thanksgivings and Christmases to come. $2.03 is a small amount (the cost of a soda and a small bag of chips from the vending machine --my favs) so please consider doing the same if there is a local neighborhood food bank or charity that you can bless. See how to donate to L.A. Mission if interested but especially watch the videos linked below especially the one with the chef speaking about the empty food pantry as well as the video testimonials from the men whose lives and souls have been saved. www.losangelesmission.org/Media/VideoArchive/FoodPantry.aspx
Considering the circumstances, the Bible verse below is very fitting:

Isaiah 25:6-10 (NIV)
6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;
8 He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.
9 In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

My Thanksgiving:
After Tuesday on Skid Row, I decided to have a quiet Thanksgiving dinner at home just like last year. I added some seasonal decor to my apartment and cooked and baked but mostly I just spent time praising God and being thankful that I am truly blessed! I also played (quite appropriately) Mary, Mary's Thankful CD all day and I hummed and sang along as I cooked. Later, I took a brief break from the kitchen and headed poolside for a brief sunning as I listened to Rodrigo Rodriguez's flamenco gospel instrumental CD titled, Inspired By You. The sunning was truly brief as most of the time I was in a parka due to the unseasonably and unbelievably frigid conditions here in California. Again, spent a lot of time in the word seeking the Lord's view on thanksgiving and service to the needy and poor.

More good Thanksgiving Day scriptures:
John 21: 15-17 (Feed My Sheep),

Isaiah 58:10, Isaiah 14:30 (God's promise of provision for the poor and the needy), Psalm 126:3 The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy. AND

Proverbs 22:9 A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor

I also found a nice Thanksgivings Day Prayer about.com/Christianity.

We Give Thanks
Our Father in Heaven,
We give thanks for the pleasure
Of gathering together for this occasion.
We give thanks for this food
Prepared by loving hands.
We give thanks for life,
The freedom to enjoy it all
And all other blessings.
As we partake of this food,
We pray for health and strength
To carry on and try to live as You would have us.
This we ask in the name of Christ,
Our Heavenly Father.
--Harry Jewell

Be blessed and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Shoes That Fit At CCCO

I volunteered with over 50 members of my church and over 200 total volunteers for the 12th annual Shoes That Fit event at L.A. Central City Community Outreach (CCCO)(6th and San Pedro) on Tuesday November 23rd. Shoes That Fit is held every year around Thanksgiving by CCCO, which is a Christian non-profit dedicated to serving the homeless or under-privileged in Los Angeles' Skid Row including an after-school program for children with mentoring. For this event, they provided shoes, clothing, entertainment, a quick meal of hot dogs and snacks plus boxed groceries for a Thanksgiving meal for the children and their families.

We started the event with a group prayer for all the volunteers where we sincerely asked for God's Holy Spirit presence so that we could do His work for the event then we were off. I was on face painting and entertainment duties outside and I met and greeted as much children and parents in line as I could. I spoke my version of Spanish and joked or sang with them until everyone smiled. My heart broke many times as the line was very long and it was so cold and blustery outside (made even worst by the wind-chill factor). Sadly, most of the kids were not dressed warm enough to be out in the elements but their parents were so desperate to get them some shoes, clothing and a meal that only 2 families actually left out of the hundreds in line.

The sun left at about 4:00 pm too so it got even colder and I had to keep running inside to search the donated bins for blankets and scarfs for the babies, kids and even for some moms who were outside. I also used the time inside searching for clothing to warm up my body and to warm up my heart and spirit through prayer and supplication to the Lord for the homeless and needy throngs outside. Although I have worked with kids and families in similar situations before, L.A. has the worst homeless situation I have ever seen ,and with the down economy, the problem just seems to be growing.

Still it was a very up-lifting event as every child left smiling and styling as they sported their new shoes, fly hoodies, princess or spider-man face paint and their plate full of goodies. I even got a few hugs from the pint-sized blessings! It really makes me reflect though on what being thankful and Christian service to the needy is really about and what God 's word has to say about it.

John 21:15 American International Translation

After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," Peter replied, "you know I love you." "Then feed my lambs (spiritual babes)," Jesus told him.

I hope we did just that!

Learn more about L.A. Central City at www.lacentralcity.org and see video from the event at http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7807067