Does It Matter

On the first Sunday of this year I asked the question "Does it matter that there is a church at the corner of 96th and North Oak?" Let me give you one answer to that question:
This morning I was sitting in the Worship Center praying and doing a morning devotion. (I'm enjoying a daily devotional called Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Psalms and Prayer by Larry Peacock, it's far removed from my own "style" of devotion which stretches my faith a bit, making the time more fulfilling.) While I was there a man came in to make use of our Food Pantry. I greeted him and went back to my prayer time. After a few minutes he took a break from his "shopping" to say "I sure appreciate this church doing this. During the winter my son and daughter in law were killed in a car accident. Now I'm raising their six kids [all under the age of 12] and I've been off work for a month for hand surgery. I go back in three weeks but things are tight. I sure appreciate the help feeding my kids."

Not coincidentally, I'm sure, I had just read Psalm 67 as a part of my devotion. Here are the last 3 verses:
5 May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6 Then the land will yield its harvest,
and God, our God, will bless us.
7 God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Psalms 67:5-7 (NIV)

Today we were the harvest for one man and his family. Today God blessed him. Today it mattered that there is a church at the corner of 96th and North Oak.