God is the Potter, We Are the Clay

These last few days have been intense. I met a lot of different people
and everyone has finally arrived at The House. Work at the Love
Kitchen is getting more exciting. I am learning more about the history
of the Love Kitchen. It's been around for 22 years. It was even more
exciting when it was first established and by exciting I mean it was
dangerous. Fights would erupt, drug deals were attempted, etc.
Fortunately, God is good. God kept The Love Kitchen strong and helped
it grow. God also brought many of the people who came to the Love
Kitchen back to Him.
After learning about the history of the Love Kitchen I was reminded of
the story of King Manasseh in 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 that was shared
with us by All Angels' Church last weekend. In the passage, Manasseh
was a king who turned away from God and did many evil deeds, such as
worshiping idols and offering human sacrifices to them. God tried to
bring Manasseh back to his sense but Manasseh was stubborn. As a
result, God sent an army from Assyria to Manasseh's kingdom. He was
captured and made a prisoner. During his time as a prisoner, Manasseh
turned back to God and repented for his sins. God reestablished
Manasseh as king of Judah and made even greater than before. Manasseh
did many great deeds and sensed God for the rest of His life.
To me, this passage showed just how much God loves us and to what
great lengths He would take in order to save us from our sins. The
period of time of trouble may be at times dreadful and very painful
for us, both physically and spiritually. But the end result of what
God creates out of our mess-ups is even better than what we could ever
imagine.
As Eddie, the chef of the Love Kitchen told me, "God is the potter and
we are the clay". Before being molded, the clay (us) needs to be
splattered, hard, onto the clay molding wheel. That big splat can be
painful but the form that is molded out of the clay is priceless. Many
of the people who have come to the Love Kitchen over these 22 years
have been "splatted" in many different ways, but they have become
beautiful treasures.

- Winston Tse