Every month we host a monthly food delivery from Metro CME in Ensley and Asbury United Methodist Church off 119 and 280. Each location requires an army of volunteers who give of their time, prayers and physical strength to send the boxes out with the families and individuals who graciously volunteer to delivery the food each month to the recipient families.
Nick Smith is in the Asbury UMC volunteer army. He shows up month after month, right at 7am, and sometimes he is even early, to help move the boxes, distribute the meats, fresh produce, bread and desserts, and then load the boxes into the cars and pray out the volunteers who will deliver the food to the homes of our recipients.
When we think of someone who keeps their word, committed and consistent, and with a joyful heart, one of the volunteers we remember is Nick Smith. Nick is a quiet, steady type, kind to all and inclusive of all people. One day, as he explained how he was doing, his explanation was deeply impacted by how others in the community were doing. He hurts with those who hurt and rejoices with those that rejoice. He is growing in “others first” thought processes and lifestyle choices as he fights selfishness and “me-centered” living to emulate Jesus and the life of a servant.
One night a group of community members met to pray for the new community house and there Nick was praying on the deck, praying in the bedroom, and praising God in the driveway, no matter the heat or the bugs, because he believes in what God is doing and jumps in to be a part of it! He never complained, never wavered from his desire to press in and seek more of Jesus.
Grace Klein Community is better by having men like Nick that come to serve on a Saturday morning, before heading to work, sweating from heat to toe, hauling thousands of pounds of food, and still smiling and appreciative to be a part of something bigger than himself. Even last food delivery, we had hundreds of pounds of potatoes to unload and he jumped on the truck and handed the produce out to other volunteers until he literally ran himself out of breath and needed a break. He joked and said, “well, I can skip my workout as I got my CrossFit in today.”
He gives all to families that may never meet him because he knows Jesus is caring for His people, in Birmingham, Alabama, through a simple gesture of food and Nick chooses to be a part of something beautiful.
“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” – 2 Corinthians 5:14-15