Then Jesus said, “When you give a luncheon or dinner,
do not invite
your friends,
your brothers
or relatives,
or your rich neighbors;
if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.
But when you give a banquet,
invite
the poor,
the crippled,
the lame,
the blind,
and you will be blessed.
Luke 14:12-13
The Vision: Create a feast that honors the street people of Ukraine. Provide a setting and place for them to eat as much food as they want while being treated like the VIP.
Assemble the 8 most incredible people on the face of this planet (a.k.a. Umoja and Natalka) who have a heart for being Jesus’ hands and feet in a world that is broken and needy.
The Work: Invite as many people as possible on the week leading up to the feast!
Obtain an understanding of the legalities so we
do NOT get arrested by the Ukrainian police.
Go to the market
Buy
Grapes, Pears, and Oranges
Cookies, Chips, and Crackers
Make 100 salami and cheese sandwiches with more
than adequate amounts of mayonnaise and mustard
Go back to the store to buy ALL their breads
and (John’s favorite), JUICE
…………………….
Then the evening of the Feast arrives. We quickly gather our many bags of food and walk into the freezing cold night. There was a feeling of anticipation and nervousness as we walked. Would people come? Would we get in any trouble with the police? Would we be eating salami and cheese sandwiches for 3 days straight?
We found a spot in the park next to Odessa’s
train station and started to set up camp. Because
of the regulations of the city, we had to make
our little feast look like a picnic instead of a formal
dinner.
We gathered in a circle and prayed in faith
and then we waited…
and waited a little bit more…
And THEN… one of our first customers!!
We found ourselves handing out food left
and right as more people came to our little
gathering!
We quickly made some new friends
as a group of street kids came to hang out with
us. Little did we know that they would soon be
our key to passing out the rest of the food we
had made
The night started to creep in on us and we needed to
wrap up our feast but we still had food to hand out.
So our new friend Icha offered to walk with us and hand
out the rest of the food that we had. We formed a team
and started on the journey.
I walked with our contact, Natalka, and these kids
as we fearlessly crossed roads filled with cars. I
walked with them not understanding a word that was
being spoken and loving every second of it! My fingers were
frozen, I was a little unsure of where we were going, but
my love of adventure took over and I followed along confident
that God saw me and would take care of us.
We found some of their friends in the park and gave them
some juice and bread. Around the next corner we saw a group
of crippled street people who were obviously drunk but
oh so grateful to have the food. And by the end of the evening
we had passed out every single bit of food that we had for the
feast.
I found myself strongly desiring to be able to communicate
with my new friends as we survived the cold evening together.
We laughed with each other and learned to love each other
despite language barriers.
We finished the night with our new friends going back to their
‘home’ and us quickly making our way back to the 2 bedroom
flat that the 8 of us were sharing. It was finished! We had seen
Jesus bring those that needed food and friendship to our
humble feast in the park. And we had been changed by it
I will never forget the night I followed street kids around Ukraine
and was blessed to see a piece of their world and become
a part of a story that I am praying they won’t forget either!
