On Wednesday, I went with Tom “Terrific”, Tom Mahoney, and my mom, along with about 40 other volunteers from other churches and organizations to sort and bag cookies to go into the state correctional facility in Smyrna. For many years, the Newark church has baked cookies (this year nearly 400 dozen cookies) and for the past three years I have helped Tom sort and/or deliver the cookies, but today in this “Cookie Monster Heaven”, I heard some stories of the impact that was being made.

I was asked to tape up boxes so that the bags of cookies could be transported easily down to Smyrna. So as I stood there putting these boxes together a woman walked up to me and said “You’re from Tom’s church aren’t you?!?” I said, “Yes ma’am I am”. She began to smile from ear to ear and said “That church is such a blessing. Without them, things like this wouldn’t get done. You guys have a great church”. I smiled and said thank you and told her that we are so blessed that God has given us the opportunity to serve in so many different ways.

A few minutes later, Tom “Terrific” reintroduces me to a man that I met when I went to speak at the chapel service in the prison. He has been out of prison for about four weeks now and is attempting to find a job and get back on his feet. He is living down at the Sunday Breakfast Mission in Wilmington part of the week as well. As he was telling me some of his story, he began to tell me about these cookies. He said that the first thing he asked Tom when he got out of the prison was “When do you put together all the cookies for the inmates, because I want to help!” He went on to say that the bag of 10 cookies that each inmate got was such a wonderful gift because many of these inmates have no family or friends to come and visit them during the holidays and he said that it helped so many of them get through that time of year knowing that people loved and cared for them that they would take time out to make them cookies during this busy time of year. He said, “I know how much of a blessing these were to me while I was in there that when I got out, I wanted to give back and help give someone the same kind of joy that I received every year”. And so this man and I stood there putting together boxes and putting filled boxes of bagged cookies into the back of Tom’s van and tomorrow he will go and help deliver these cookies to Smyrna and he says to me “I have never felt such joy as I do right now being able to give back”. I looked at him and said, “Well my friend, you are experiencing the kingdom of God”.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen”. Jude 24-25