Why Cold Soup Will Never Save Souls

On a Mission Trip with YouthWorks in Vancouver, Canada's red light district, we had a lot of occasions to laugh. It was also a great opportunity for kids to see the devastating effects drugs can have on people. In Vancouver B.C., drug use is legal in a sectioned area. So as we drove towards our mission site, we actually saw people shooting up on the sidewalk in mass quantities.

It's like something out of a weird sci-fi movie, with zombies, only instead it was a community of real, and hurting people. God challenged us to see these broken, addicted men and women as humans with names, and stories, and families.

When we reached a housing and treatment center for men, we got to hear a lot of stories from those in rehab. Afterwards, we headed down for lunch to the soup kitchen, which actually had amazing food. The head chef reminded me of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. Really Gruff, but you could tell he cared about the men he was serving.

Finally, we were asked to prepare a chapel service that would take place before the evening meal. I was asked to give the talk. Towards the end of the message as I was wrapping things up, I heard a guy in the corner whisper loudly to his friend, "The soups getting cold."

Nobody likes cold soup, so I closed in prayer.