When Pigs Fly…

This morning and afternoon, Denise and I had the privilege of working along side of members of the Muscogee Nation of Florida, members of A Simple Faith Church, and a variety of neighbors and friends from Walton, Washington, & Holmes County at the Rural Relief Food Pantry the Muscogee Nation runs in Bruce, Florida.

We had been hearing about this monthly effort for several years, but this was the first opportunity that we had to participate. When the call went out for blankets and Christmas gifts for the December pantry, First Presbyterian was able to gather blankets and gifts for this effort. However, for the two of us personally, the opportunity to work along side of a great group of volunteers in this effort was the real blessing! Meeting the clients of the Food Pantry (many of whom volunteered themselves before getting food for themselves) and sharing the love and joy of this season with the clients was, at times, overwhelming. Realizing how blessed we are personally, and seeing the joy in faces of those we were serving, helped me to truly experience and share the joy of this holy season.

You might wonder why I chose the title for this post. In April of 2010 at the dedication of the Rutal Relief Food Pantry building, Chairwoman Ann Tucker told those gathered that the Nation had been told by the powers-that-be that the likelihood of this project happening when it was originally proposed was about as likely as pigs flying! Well, just like the logo on their t-shirts shows, pigs have wings and are flying. And today, I believe I saw an entire Wing of Pigs (to use an image of flying from my Air Force days) flying over Bruce, Florida! 1,000 Christmas gift bags for men, women and children were distributed and 305 family units were served. I am incredibly grateful for our friends Cyndi and Tom Talty, Ronnie and Cindy McBrayer, and the folks from A Simple Faith for inviting us to participate.

I found myself thinking about Mary and Joseph, two working poor folks from Nazareth in Galilee who were homeless and needed a place to stay while Mary gave birth to Jesus. And they later were refugees who had to rely upon the kindness of strangers during their exile in Egypt. Did I see them in the faces of the people we served today? Yes, I believe I did! Did I feel the spirit of Christ-mass today? You bet I did! Seeing the face of Christ in your neighbor and sharing the love of Christ in a real and tangible way is what Christmas is supposed to be all about.

If you are interested in supporting the work of our Muscogee neighbors, please visit their web page at http://mnof.org.  And as I conclude my reflections on the new friends I have met and made, in the words of Tiny Tim, “God bless us, every one.”