I went to a new food bank last week. I had heard that they had fresh produce. The other one I’ve been to twice just has canned food and a lot of bread and cookies. This one had a freezer like a refrigerator that had frozen veggies in it. I think these are more nutritious than canned veggies.
They also had a giant freezer full of meat. And a refrigerated section where I did get a bag of oranges and apples. So that part was good. What I didn’t know was that they expected you to pray with them.
When I first walked into the place they set me up at a table with a little pad type computer for me to answer questions about myself. A lady came to sit next to me to help if I had any problems.
At the end of the on line form there was that place where you agree to the terms of service. I’m used to just clicking yes. A lot of them didn’t apply to me and I did notice out of the corner of my mind that one thing I agreed to was to pray with them. I wondered what that was about, but hey, I was already there so I clicked yes.
The next step in the process was a different lady who took me into a small room where we chatted. She asked me when my problems with money started. I thought this was a good question. It seems like this place doesn’t just want to give you food and send you on your merry way, they want to help you solve your problems.
This church seems like an Obama type church, what I think a church should be. They have a day care center, a senior care center, a store where you can shop for clothes (all free), job training and employment assistance, as well as a food bank.
I had to give that question a lot of thought. It was after I got cancer that I got so poor. I have side effects that affect my ability to work as many hours as I used to. Then she asked me what I thought would happen to me when I died. I was confused at what I thought was the science portion of the questioning.
I said I suppose that my body will decompose and return to the earth. She then asked if I believed in Jesus. I know it sounds like I’m slow but it’s very stressful for me to go to a food bank. I haven’t been able to go yet without crying all the way home. Poverty is stressful.
My answer about Jesus was that there seems to be historical proof outside the bible which proves someone named Jesus did exist. Do I think he was an enlightened being like Gandhi or Mother Teresa? I don’t know.
The woman went on to tell me of her belief in and love for Jesus and God. I explained that I was raised as an atheist and remain one. She challenged me to read the book of John in the bible. I smiled and wondered (in my head) if I could check a copy out of the library and if so would it be in fiction or non fiction section.
The woman was very nice and took me to the big room with the food pantry to wait for my turn to shop. When I was done shopping, before I could blink, the woman helping me shop grabbed my hand to pray and the whole room stopped to pray.
I just stared at her with my mouth open, but I gotta say it was a good prayer. She used a normal tone of voice and part of what she said was “Lord, you know her, you know what she needs, please help her…..something, something, something.”
I don’t know if I’ll go back there again, I’ll have to read the book of John first, and the woman that spoke to me in the little room, kind as she was, had a glint in her eye as if she had found a recruit for the lord. She hasn’t.