The DC tourist thing at Passport

Last things first.  Half of the Passport time today was church free time.  We ended our day with Twilight Tattoo at Fort Meyer, VA.  Twilight Tattoo is a history and celebration of the Army told in pageantry, band music and lots of cannon fire.  Army units in uniform from the Revolution to present day were on hand.  The event closed with The US Army Drill Team, sharp!  Toss those rifles!

Before that we enjoyed a delicious Ethiopian dinner at Enjera Restaurant.  Enjera is a bread that on first glance looks and tastes like an Ace bandage.  But you use it as a vehicle to eat lentils and marinated steak from shared platters, yum.  The youth said yum, too.

Dinner at Enjera

Before that we visited the Marine Corps War Memorial, an amazing moment captured in bronze.  Immediately before, we saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  I felt compelled to sit and watch the honor guard through his shift, and was impressed and delighted that our youth felt the same way.  It felt like an honor to be there.  Did you know there are twenty burials at Arlington daily?  We started this tourist jaunt with a visit to the Lincoln Memorial and the nearby Korean War Veterans Memorial.

Looking away from the Lincoln Memorial

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We actually did some work for the community today!  Our service was at Food and Friends, an organization that provides specialty meals to needy residents in the DMV.  Like if you are immobilized from an injury and have a heart condition, these folks could help.  So grab a white plastic bag, put in a packaged dinner and a soup, tie the bag and put it on this tray.  Eight meals per tray, twelve trays per rack, we packaged well over 500 meals this morning.  Out of the million meals per year provided by Food and Friends.

Racks of meals tagged and ready for freezing and distribution

Waiting for instructions

Grab a meal, grab a soup and bag it!

A red dot means what again?

Last night, guest speaker James, an alumnus of Christ House came for a chat.  Christ House is a home for men recently released from prison and one of the missions of Jubilee Housing.  James has been through many challenges, starting with his abandonment by his 13-year-old mother.  But the thing that got my attention is that James feels that Christ has never given up on him.  Why?  Maybe so he could be here for us today.  And maybe that's why Christ hasn't given up on us either.  So we can be here today for each other.