Daily Bread

Kenyan woman and her "daily bread."

I recently did a children's message at church that went along with this line from the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." It's really a profound thought to ponder...do we trust God for our daily bread. Or maybe a better question is, do we HAVE to trust God for our daily bread? I shared some photos from this website with the kids during the message. It's a great (and slightly disturbing) glimpse into what constitutes "daily bread" around the world. We live in such luxury and abundance compared to most of the rest of the world, don't we?

James said, in relation to faith being dead if there isn't action to accompany it, "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) Those last few words get me every time..."what good is it?" We aren't blessed just to be blessed and store up more and more stuff for ourselves. I believe we are blessed to continue blessing others...to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

So how are you teaching this concept to your children? How are you teaching them that the world does not revolve around them? How are you expanding their worldview to realize that there are people who are hungry and hurting in the world and part of our job is to love them?

You know what I have discovered in the years I have worked with children? They are more than willing to share, to pray, and to reach out! They just need to be given tha
t opportunity.

Compassion Visit

During my March visit to Haiti, a definite highlight was the trip we were able to take into the mountains to the town of St. Raphael to visit with Olgentz and his family. Our youth group has been sponsoring Olgentz through Compassion International for the past year and a half, and it was a wonderful, over-the-top, surreal experience to get to meet in person this dear young man who has been a fixture in our youth group on Sunday nights by way of a picture on the wall.

Outside the Compassion Project

We first arrived at the Compassion project--the faith-based school Olgentz attends thanks to the Compassion funds. We got treated like royalty as we were the first Compassion sponsors to EVER visit this site! The staff came and was introduced to us, a feast of fried plantain, chicken, cake, salads, casseroles, and ice cold drinks was served to us, and we got a tour of the project site.

Left to right: our translator Bernard, Olgentz, me, Pastor Randall B., the Pastor who oversees this project, Lori G..

Walking the footpath to Olgentz's home

After a brief visit there, we all piled into the back of a truck and headed to Olgentz's home. Nearly a month later, I am still overwhelmed by the incredible hospitality that we received there. Olgentz's mother welcomed us into their home where we all squeezed around a table and were presented with ANOTHER feast with more ice cold drinks. They blessed us time and again for the ways that we have helped to provide for Olgentz. Such a humbling experience, and I find that words continue to fail me when it comes to telling about that experience.

Showing the family some pictures from our town.

Some lessons from my time with this most precious family?

Hospitality matters. Your house's condition does not. Relationships matter.

Loving people matters. "Stuff" is not important.

Jesus is quintessential to life.

Those are all very simple sentences and concepts, aren't they? You know what I'm finding, though? They are much more difficult to put into practice than they are to type out!

Part of our Compassion support has provided a pig for the family, and we were thrilled to see babies!

With Olgentz and his family in their sugar cane field.

As we left the sugar cane field and headed back to the truck to prepare to leave, I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the most beautiful sight: Olgentz's mother was standing there by herself, with her hands raised toward the sky, her eyes closed, and her mouth moving in prayer. In the midst of poverty and lack, she did not forget "from whom all blessings flow."  I want to be more like her...