It’s been an eventful week at the Phinney Ridge Winter Men’s shelter. Political “discussions” reached a fever pitch in the usually quiet atmosphere of Emmanuel’s Fellowship Hall where our 20 beds are provided for men to come in out of the cold and get a hot meal. The country is boiling with marches and hot political speech right now. It reminds me of the good old 60’s, except there aren’t 40,000 young men dying for a cause they are not sure they believe in.

Fortunately a shipment of supplies came in from the UGM which included a large quantity of duck. I thought, how appropriate, even Providential. Now I can make “Duck Soup.” Perhaps this is an obscure reference. “Duck Soup” is a 1933 Marx Brothers film which is a parody of an inauguration gala with a heavy dose of theater of the absurd. It’s just the thing for helping one keep in perspective the course of history concerning the pomposity of government and the fact that there is nothing new under the sun. I really am making duck soup tonight for the shelter. Come on by. We won’t be talking politics.

In other news, a gift of boots also came in this week and they were distributed to some very grateful men. I was asked the question, what if the person receiving the gift just turns around and sells it for drug money? It sounds like such a waste. It sounds like we are just enabling the person to carry on with their addiction. But I think the way to overcome sin is by loving a person over and over and over again until it sinks in and they start believing it. It takes more than a few gifts. How many gifts has it taken for you? And me? Have we spent what God has given us on what will make us feel good and secure?  Are we only taking care of our own?  Jesus asked us to do more. There is a law in this world which is in play at all times and in all places regardless of what one believes. “It is in giving that we receive.” A person will give (love) in exact proportion to their perception of how much they are loved. God can measure such things. “We love because He first loved us.” “He who is forgiven little, loves little.” How much am I forgiven?  And you. The proof is in the giving.

That’s the news from the Men’s Shelter, on Phinney Ridge. Time for some duck soup.

Ben Paul, Kitchen master extraordinaire.