This month my squad is partnering with Christian Light Foundation. One of CLF’s principle ministries is a feeding center for children in the area. I must say, the children are not the only hungry people in this place. Here are a few nibblets of wisdom I have picked up this past month. I call it Food for Thought…
Feed the hungry, and use food when necessary.
Does that statement make any sense at all? Here’s what Jesus’s half-brother (same mom, different dad) had to say about the issue:
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? -James 2:15-16
Share the Gospel, and use words when necessary.
Why then does this statement make any sense at all? Seriously…
What do you say when a 6th grader walks up to you and tells you that he was born with a hole in his heart? I’m talking about an actual physical hole, not a metaphor.
Then, while you’re thinking about your response he tells you that it’s okay because one year ago someone prayed for his heart and it was healed. Now he can run around without getting tired. He has all of the energy in the world. Then he says, “that’s the power of God”…
Who is ministering to who?
What do you say when a first grader in your English class looks up from his notebook and casually tells you that one morning his dad forgot his gun on his way to work? Because it was forgotten, two people came and shot at him. Then they punched him in the head with the but of the gun and put him in the hospital for a week.
Then the young child looks back at his piece of paper and begins coloring again as if nothing had happened.
An 11 year old in our church shares his testimony with us. He tells us how he used to live in a tent of a house on the street. Now God has blessed him with a roof. When he was 10 he wanted to be a leader in his church, but the pastor said “not until you’re 11”. Every week he shows up to church several hours early to be in the leadership meetings.
Every Saturday he leaves his community at 6:00 AM in the morning in order to take 3 buses to get to one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Costa Rica. What does he do when he arrives? He disciples younger kids, teaching them about Jesus’s love and helping them to remember Bible versus. He himself knows about 80 of them by heart.
His dream, to be a missionary “like us”…
I think we all know who the real missionary is…
So after he’s done speaking I ask him “Where do you want to be a missionary?”. He tears up. Pulling strength from somewhere deep down inside, he just manages to hold himself together.
“More than anything else in the world I want to go to Nicaragua with my church in December. In December, I’ll have my 12th birthday. My dad asked me what I wanted for my birthday, a birthday party with presents, or a passport to Nicaragua. I told him ‘you know what I want’. Unfortunately, he told me we don’t have the money. But I trust God. I will keep moving forward because I never want to go back.”
The price of a passport, $72. The power of an 11 year old’s heart for the Lord….
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” – 1 Timothy 4:12
Food For Thought
