One Word

She came over on Friday

And we laughed,

Watched a movie,

Cooked dinner.

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,

My heart is filled with joy.

Reasons 4699-4777 today,

(Still in Job - basing my counting off this series),

So amazed at who He is,

So fed:

4699. He is mighty, but despises no one (Job 36:5)
4700. He is mighty, and firm in His purpose (Job 36:5)
4701. He does not keep the wicked alive (Job 36:6)
4702. He gives the afflicted their rights (Job 36:6)
4703. He does not take His eyes off the righteous (Job 36:7)
4704. He enthrones the righteous with kings (Job 36:7)
4705. He exalts the righteous forever (Job 36:7)
4706. If people are bound in chains, He tells them what they have done (Job 36:8-9)
4707. If people are held fast by cords of affliction, He tells them what they have done (Job 36:8-9)
4708. If people are bound in chains, He tells them what they have done - that they have sinned arrogantly (Job 36:8-9)
4709. If people are held fast by cords of affliction, He tells them what they have done - that they have sinned arrogantly (Job 36:8-9)
4710. If people have sinned arrogantly, He makes them listen to correction (Job 36:9-10)
4711. If people have sinned arrogantly, He commands them to repent of their evil (Job 36:9-10)
4712. If people will obey and serve Him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity (Job 36:11)
4713. If people will obey and serve Him, they will spend the rest of their years in contentment (Job 36:11)
4714. If people do not listen to Him, they will perish by the sword (Job 36:12)
4715. If people do not listen to Him, they will die without knowledge (Job 36:12)
4716. He fetters the godless in heart (Job 36:13)
4717. Those who suffer He delivers in their suffering (Job 36:15)
4718. Those who suffer He speaks to in their affliction (Job 36:15)
4719. He woos people from the jaws of distress (Job 36:16)
4720. He woos people from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction (Job 36:16)
4721. He woos people from the jaws of distress to the comfort of their tables laden with choice food (Job 36:16)
4722. He is exalted in His power (Job 36:22)
4723. No one is a teacher like God (Job 36:22)
4724. No one has prescribed His ways for Him (Job 36:23)
4725. No one has said to Him, “You have done wrong” (Job 36:23)
4726. All humanity has seen His work (Job 36:24-25)
4727. Mortals gaze on His work from afar (Job 36:24-25)
4728. He is Great - beyond our understanding! (Job 36:26)
4729. The number of His years is past finding out (Job 36:26)
4730. He draws up the drops of water (Job 36:27)
4731. He draws up the drops of water which distill as rain to the streams (Job 36:27)
4732. No one can understand how He spreads out the clouds (Job 36:29)
4733. No one can understand how He thunders from His pavilion (Job 36:29)
4734. He scatters His lightning about Him (Job 36:30)
4735. He scatters His lightning about Him, bathing the depths of the sea (Job 36:30)
4736. He governs the nations (Job 36:31)
4737. He provides food in abundance (Job 36:31)
4738. He fills His hands with lightning (Job 36:32)
4739. He fills His hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark (Job 36:32)
4740. His thunder announces the coming storm (Job 36:33)
4741. His thunder announces the coming storm; even the cattle make known its approach (Job 36:33)
4742. His voice roars (Job 37:2)
4743. Rumbling comes from His mouth (Job 37:2)
4744. He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole heaven (Job 37:3)
4745. He sends His lightning to the ends of the earth (Job 37:3)
4746. He thunders with majestic voice (Job 37:4)
4747. When His voice resounds, He holds nothing back (Job 37:4)
4748. His voice thunders in marvelous ways (Job 37:5)
4749. He does great things beyond people's understanding (Job 37:5)
4750. He says to the snow, “Fall on the earth” (Job 37:6)
4751. He says to the rain shower, “Be a mighty downpour” (Job 37:6)
4752. He stops all people from their labor (Job 37:7)
4753. He stops all people from their labor so that everyone He has made may know His work (Job 37:7)
4754. His breath produces ice (Job 37:10)
4755. His breath produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen (Job 37:10)
4756. He loads the clouds with moisture (Job 37:11)
4757. He scatters His lightning through the clouds (Job 37:11)
4758. At His direction the clouds swirl around (Job 37:11-12)
4759. At His direction the clouds swirl around over the face of the whole earth (Job 37:11-12)
4760. At His direction the clouds swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever He commands them (Job 37:11-12)
4761. He brings the clouds to punish people (Job 37:13)
4762. He brings the clouds to water His earth (Job 37:13)
4763. He brings the clouds to show His love (Job 37:13)
4764. No one knows how He controls the clouds (Job 37:15)
4765. No one knows how He makes His lightning flash (Job 37:15)
4766. No one knows how the clouds hang poised, wonders of Him who has perfect knowledge (Job 37:16)
4767. He has perfect knowledge (Job 37:16)
4768. He spreads out the skies (Job 37:18)
4769. He spreads out the skies, hard as a mirror of cast bronze (Job 37:18)
4770. He comes in golden splendor (Job 37:22)
4771. Out of the north He comes in golden splendor (Job 37:22)
4772. He comes in awesome majesty (Job 37:22)
4773. He is beyond our reach (Job 37:23)
4774. He is exalted in power (Job 37:23)
4775. In His Justice and great Righteousness, He does not oppress (Job 37:23)
4776. People revere Him (Job 37:24)
4777. He has regard for all the wise in heart (Job 37:24)

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,

To teach,

To learn,

Is one of the greatest gifts God has given me.

Please consider joining us in releasing children from poverty

In Jesus' Name.

Counting 10,000 Reasons to worship Him: 

(Sylvia's already made it to - past - 10,000!  So amazing to think of who He is like this!)

<a href="http://maryschieferstein.blogspot.com/search/label/10000%20Reasons" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitidrfBKBWTHSBiWyh3WMRKjHFgYKk-RxjYB9-uePQb1-uI3t3bjysPnR65zloJJ0LgTqhT5kW70Rk8VOC2utXFUWhGRPIxNCqzZ_9YQryYPMJdj2XpiX0oawLUiMnmxFOeMkmjk3IIA/s320/10000ReasonsButton.jpg" /></a>

Counting in community: