"Poverty is not necessarily an issue to solve; it is an opportunity
to serve. As we go through each day, our heart's cry should be, Lord,
where would you have me give, serve, and invest myself to bring hope to
the poor?"
~Orphan Justice author, Johnny Carr
It wasn't always easy for me to understand this.
Poverty has always felt so big -
What could I ever do about it?
Then I began to read blogs,
People who went to some of the poorest areas of the world,
Met some of the poorest people -
And with all those faces?
Poverty started to seem less like a big issue
And more like individuals -
Individuals who desperately needed hope.
God began to show me that it wasn't about the big issue,
But the individual person.
He began to put child sponsorship on my heart.
When I finally decided to sponsor a child through Compassion, -
Began to write letters,
Build a relationship -
I saw that this was an opportunity for me to serve.
I wasn't going to solve the issue of poverty,
Not even for one person,
But I could serve
And I could offer hope
And I could make a difference.
The really funny thing, though?
From the first letter I received,
I could tell that I wasn't only serving
But also being served.
It's blog month over here,
Blogging for Compassion,
Trying to get 3,160 children sponsored this month.
Honestly, the ability to make a difference,
The ability to develop a relationship with a child,
We used as many peppers and tomatoes as would fit in the casserole dishes,
Dumped rice from a pretty full 10-pound bag into the rice cooker,
Browned good ground beef from a local meat counter.
We didn't have to worry about not having enough,
Didn't have to worry when we burnt the garlic bread and three smoke alarms went off.
We had an abundance -
More food than we needed.
This is normally what I think of when I think of food -
That which is eaten,
Which satisfies my stomach,
Or, just as often, my cravings.
We college students here on a tight budget
Manage to have approximately five crock pot meals still bagged in our freezer,
And we'll probably still have two or three of those left when we reach the end of this week.
We complain that money's tight,
That we're spending a lot on a low income,
But we have more than a week's worth of food,
Prepared,
Just waiting to be cooked.
There's a food that's needed for the body.
We have it in abundance.
There are other kinds of food, too.
Like the one we're all here for -
Studying,
Doing way more homework than any professor should expect
(And yet all of them seem to),
Going to class,
Not getting enough sleep,
Paying thousands of dollars in tuition -
We want to learn.
Our minds need to be fed.
There is a desire to grow in knowledge,
And also a need,
A need for the future,
To have a job,
To support ourselves,
To have enough -
Well, what Americans consider to be "enough".
There is a food that is needed for the body,
And there is a food that is needed for the mind.
Perhaps the most important food, however,
Is the food that is needed for the soul.
Jesus said it Himself:
Matthew 4:4
English Standard Version (ESV)
4 But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
More than anything,
We need that kind of food.
We need to know God,
To grow in Him,
To love Him with all that we are.
If He's not everything to us,
Then we're going hungry,
Starving,
Deprived of that which is essential to life:
Its Creator and Sustainer.
It's probably the type of food that people think about the least -
And yet it's the one that all of us need the most.
Before we watched the movie,
Cooked dinner,
Burned the garlic bread,
I showed her around our humble abode -
The couches in the living room,
The clothes piled on the floor,
And the pictures on the refrigerator -
The ones of the children I sponsor,
The ones of the children my roommate sponsors.
She told us that we were inspiring her,
That she wanted to sponsor a child, too.
I told her how worth it it was,
How much I treasured those relationships.
I may be a "poor" college student,
But I'm not starving by any means.
There are at least three kinds of food.
And, at the moment, I have enough of all of them.
But there are so, so many people in this world who do not.
I am more than willing to share my meager income to provide food for these children whom I love so much:
Food for the body - my sponsorship helps to make sure that these children get meals, helps to ease the burden on families that are struggling to survive.
Food for the mind - my sponsorship provides the money needed so that these children can go to school, to learn and dream of a better future.
Food for the spirit - my sponsorship through Compassion means that these children will be taught the Word of God, that they will hear about Christ, that they will be directed and discipled. Nothing is more important to me.
And I? I get fed, too.
Every time one of those letters comes in the mail,
Because
He takes note of people's deeds, He overthrows them in the night
(Job 34:25)
Because
He takes note of people's deeds, He overthrows them in the night and
they are crushed (Job 34:25)
He
punishes people for their wickedness (Job 34:26)
He
punishes people for their wickedness where everyone can see them
(Job 34:26)
He
punishes people for their wickedness where everyone can see them
because they turned from following Him (Job 34:26-27)
He
punishes people for their wickedness where everyone can see them
because they turned from following Him and had no regard for any of
His ways (Job 34:26-27)
