Love Burritos

About

The Story

Welcome friends and burrito lovers. If you’re here you were probably handed a hot, cheesy and ricey burrito. No one asked for any money. These body warming treats are our gift to you. No strings attached, no fine print. Free burrito.

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You may be asking yourself “Why would someone be handing me a free burrito?” That is a great question! If you received a card, it said “We love you, Jesus loves you, and everyone loves burritos!” Let me delve a little deeper into these statements, if you have a moment.

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“We love you.”

Who is this “We” that is handing you a burrito? We are ChallengeUMaine, a Christian ministry working here at UMaine in Orono. You’ve never heard of us? Probably not. There are some 12,000 people on this campus that covers almost two square miles of space on Marsh Island. The odds of you running into us by random is very small. That is why we came to you.

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You love hockey, or at least you have a friend who does and hauled you to a game. That is awesome! UMaine hockey is great. Part of that is standing in line to get in. For the vast majority of games this season that means standing outside for a long time, in the dark, in the cold. It all around isn’t a great time.

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We wanted to make that line-standing time better. A hot snack and drink can really make the difference when it’s below freezing and there is still an hour until the doors open.

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We want you to know that we, as Christians, care about you. We do, really. Why? Because when we chose to follow Jesus, we gave up our right to choose who we loved.

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What?! Of course we can choose who to love, right? Nope. Jesus was once asked what the greatest commandment is. He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

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We take that statement very seriously. And so we love our neighbors. You. Whether we want to or not is irrelevant. (We actually want to.) And how better to show that we love you than to help you stay warm when you are cold?

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Let’s revisit our reasons for giving out free burritos. “We love you, Jesus loves you, and everyone loves burritos!” Now you know why we love you, but what about this Jesus guy? Why should he even care about you?

Jesus was once talking to another religious leader of his time, and told this man this: “For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life. Here’s the point; God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge it; instead, He is here to rescue a world headed toward certain destruction.”

Whether or not you think God likes or doesn’t like you or anyone else doesn’t change the fact that He sent His only Son to pay the cost for the sin in your life. It isn’t to judge you, but to rescue you! The amazing thing about it is that Jesus did it willingly, even knowing that he would be hung on a cross and suffer one of the most painful forms of death in history.

He still did it.

Why? Because he loves you.