Last Sunday a lesson in keeping a promise was delivered by the members of the Open Door church, who have pledged to the hungry that they are in for the long haul. Over my time on the streets of Abbotsford I have witnessed several groups come and go in providing lunch to the hungry on Sundays. The people who undertake to provide food on the first Sunday of every month have been dependably there every first Sunday, but the rest of the month has seen churches come and go as the notion took them. Were it not for the members of the Open Door there would have been many hungry men, women and children on most Sundays. These “brown-bag lunch” people have been devoted in keeping their pledge to be there when others were not.
This past Sunday they were gathered out of town on church business, which included a wedding. What of their Word? If ever there was a reason for not being there to hand out bag lunches this was surely it and there were no bag lunches. Nevertheless there were no empty stomachs; in fact people were saying NO to offers of more to eat. Even with all the preparations involved, the people of the Open Door had taken the time to make arrangements to ensure lunch was served. As Pastor Bill told me, they are in for the long haul.
So we want to draw to the attention of the citizens of Abbotsford the faithfulness of these good people and to say a big “Thank You” to both those who work so hard month after month to feed the hungry and those who stepped in to help them keep their pledge. We also desire to extend our best wishes and congratulations to the dirty old man and the sweet young thing on their nuptials; with the good hearts they have shown in their steadfast care for the hungry they should journey well together.