She Came to Serve!

Dear SoupFriends,

Greetings from the SoupMan!

At the December 2009 SoupMobile Christmas Angel Project I was privileged to meet well over 1,000 people. The list was endless. There was Tom Leppert--the Mayor of Dallas; a 'who's who of Dallas society; hundreds of volunteers; 500 homeless guests; TV reporters; Radio commentators; Dancers from the Debbie Allen Dance Studio and a whole host of invited attendees.

Good people with good hearts who share in my passion for reaching out to the ones Jesus called 'the least of these.' But there was one young lady who truly touched my heart in a powerful way. Her name was Kelley. I met her at the huge lunch time banquet we throw for the homeless on December 24th in the Hyatt Ballroom. She was there as a volunteer and was working by serving food to our homeless guests. That in itself was nice, but nothing unusual---we had hundreds of volunteer servers. What was unusual was that Kelley was in a wheelchair. I'm not sure what caused her to be in the wheelchair but I could tell by her fragile frame that she was dealing with a serious issue. I was instantly drawn to her. She had an amazing smile and I could see she had a kind heart. She wasn't wasting any time feeling sorry for herself---she came to serve!

During the banquet I asked her if she would be kind enough to allow our picture to be taken together. She graciously said yes. That picture now hangs proudly in my office over my desk. We live in a world where sometimes it seems difficult things happen to good people. Kelley didn't have to be there 'Feeding HIS Sheep.' She could have said 'it's too hard', or 'I'm not strong enough' or 'why doesn't someone serve me.' None of those words or thoughts came from Kelley---she came to serve!

Once the banquet was over I lost track of Kelley. She disappeared into the huge crowd. That should have been the end of the story---it wasn't. Many hours later that evening I was walking the floors of the hotel checking to see if our overnight homeless guests needed anything. Guess who was sitting there at the end of the hallway on the 8th floor serving as floor monitor for our homeless guests. Yes, it was Kelley---fragile, sitting in her wheelchair and that kind smile beaming straight into my heart. She came to serve!

We often refer to our sports personalities as heroes. The quarterback who makes the winning pass in the Super Bowl, the basketball player who makes the shot at the buzzer in the championship game or the baseball player who hits the home run in the bottom of the 9th inning in the World Series. Heroes??? Not for me. I know who my hero is--- a young lady sitting in a wheelchair with a heart of gold. She came to serve!

May the Lord bless and keep you all.

Signed, David Timothy, a.k.a. The SoupMan
Executive Director---SoupMobile Inc.