Abundance

During exam week at Christopher Newport University, United Campus Ministries organizes the churches to sign up for slots to provide snacks for the students between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day of the exams.  We can bring any kind of snack as long as it's individually wrapped.  Homemade, store-bought, sweet, salty, healthy, junk, fruit, water, etc.  Yesterday was the day that St. Stephen's and St. Andrew's in Newport News handed out the snacks.  I had put out the announcement a couple of weeks ago and was completely surprised when I walked into the church kitchen yesterday and saw the variety and abundance of snacks that people had contributed. 

I met our volunteers at the assigned table in the David Student Union, and we started putting the snacks out.  We had way too many snacks for the table, so we kept boxes to the side and I left some boxes in the car.  We had homemade cookies and muffins and trail mix, protein bars, chips, cheese/cracker packs, cookie packs, fruit snack packs, pretzels, pringles, combos, and candy of many varieties.  As we yelled out "free snacks" and tried to convince the students that they did not have to pay for the snacks or join anything in order to get the snacks, they either approached quickly or sidled up, still looking for the strings that were attached.  Several of them said, "What's the catch?" 

Most of them were overwhelmed by the abundance.  They had a hard time choosing because there were so many options.  And as soon as they took items, we replaced them with more.  I couldn't help thinking that if heaven were like a giant 7-11 in the sky, then our snack table would be like the heavenly banquet.  What kept occurring to me even more was how the table of snacks, similar to the widow's meal and oil that just kept replenishing itself after she shared it with Elijah, was a metaphor for God's abundant love.  It just doesn't run out.  The ways that God blesses us are as varied as the snacks on that table - there's something for everyone! 

I am so grateful to the folks at St. Stephen's and St. Andrew's for their generosity and for those who came out to show the students in a very tangible way that they are loved.  And I'm grateful to the students who expressed such kindness and gratitude once they overcame their initial fear of those crazy people shouting, "free snacks!"  They got a lesson in receiving yesterday.  Most of them would only take one snack until we urged them that there was plenty and that they could take as much as they wanted.  The volunteers told me how much they enjoyed getting to meet the students, however briefly.  With all the terrible tidings in the news these days, the volunteers were delighted to see so many polite, kind-hearted young people.  Everyone who participated was blessed.

Thanks, God, for providing opportunities for giving and receiving.  Thanks for showing us the way to ease just a little of the stress these students feel as the prepare for and take their final exams.  Thanks for pouring out your love through a table of snacks!