Bountiful harvest

Here at the Jubilee Food Pantry, we continue to walk this Path out day by day. We have had quite a few opportunities to spend more time with guests outside of our Tuesday food pantry time.  The community garden has produced a bountiful harvest; however, Andy and I have mostly left the maintenance up to the families.  Some have come to food pantry with a big armful of veggies from their family’s garden plot to share with those in need.  This is encouraging as this was the original vision of the Jubilee Community Garden.  And as expected, we’ve had some people come through and pull things up without asking.  It was a bummer to hear about this, but hey, it is a “community garden”, isn’t it?

The summer has been a wonderful time for more than enough fresh produce to share on Tuesdays.  We have enjoyed saying, “todos los que quieres”, meaning, “take all that you want”.  Almost every week we have multiple boxes left over to then freeze for later and share with our next door neighbors.

We continue to pray for the sharing Spirit to be stirred up in our friends so that the spirit of fear would be cast away.  The spirit of fear is desperate to get a hold of hearts and minds.  Just last week, we had a lady sneak through pantry early and hide 2 of the 4 laundry soap containers that were available.  These can be discouraging moments when we have to confront in love without knowing the language completely.  We hope and pray they can see Jesus through us as we attempt to share like He does, openly and freely, no hiding or favoritism.  God’s Love inspires courageous actions, such as sharing, and expects nothing in return.  Our family has personally experienced this as guests have reached out to us and invited us to family parties, brought us yummy dinners, and joined in the work of food pantry.  This is a BIG deal and something to seriously praise His name for!

Above all, we believe, at this point, our consistency to show up, be available, to love, and do what we say we will do has and will continue to be the most powerful.  Consistency is hard; it is inconvenient and stretching.  Actually, to be more accurate, consistency with joy is not only hard, but impossible without His Holy Spirit filling us.

We are seeing our community with new eyes and suddenly we are being seen with more eyes.  As followers of Jesus, we are being watched, not necessarily in the big things, but in the little inconsistencies that don’t line up with what we say.  The Coulombes are just a regular family living out the life Jesus has for them in Hubbard, OR.  We have our own issues, inconsistencies, and struggles.  But more than that, we have Jesus living in us, freeing us more and more each day as we pursue Him.  This is what we hope to share with our friends, neighbors, and community.  All is His grace and all of Him is available to each one of us.

The bountiful summer harvest is just a picture of His bountiful Grace for His children.  And He says, “Todos los que quieres!”