All I Have

Lately I have been confronted with poverty. Partly through my job, partly through living in Sacramento, and partly from my education and the books I have been picking up here and there (Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker is a must read). It has left me analyzing many of my decisions and thoughts on living in America and more importantly how I choose to live while I'm here.

If you have been around me at all in the past few days, you have heard me spew these few statistics that are sobering and humbling:

1. 68.8% of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese. 

2. 805 million people struggle with hunger every day and 2.6 million children die as a result of hunger every year.
(I found these statistics on google's search page)
3. Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger (a statistic from Interrupted)

Food is my focus in all of this, I am not even going to start in on the preventable diseases, the lack of vaccines, the lack of clean drinking water, all these things that the Third World deals with every day. No, I am going to simply look at how food relates to the world, maybe because mostly I understand the world in the context of food and family. 

So, like I said, I have been thinking a lot about food in America and how we abuse it then look on as the world is starving. Literally. I was even thinking about it today as I drove to the grocery store to get food for this week. I thought basics. Potatoes, beans, veggies, no need to go overboard. Hey, if I had money left over I may even send it to the poor. Good thought, right? 

So I was just about to the store and I saw a man with a sign that said something to the effect of "HUNGRY." I rolled down my window and offered him a granola bar that I had and said, "This is all I  have, would you like it?"

There, right there, this is my problem. I was on my way to buy more than enough food for myself and I had the nerve to tell this man that my crumbled granola snack was all that I had. That was not all that I had. 

I am so glad that God does not treat me in this fashion. He does not look around, find the leftover blessings, then offer them to me and say,"I know you needed more, Erin, but this was all I had." No, He goes so far above and beyond that with me. He lavished His love and blessings upon me. Then He asks me to go, to feed His lambs, to be His hands and feet, to touch and love the least of these. 

I cannot, as of right now, go to the parts of the world that we associate with hunger, like the catch all of Africa. But there is hunger all around me, literally and spiritually. So I have this larger than life dream in my heart to stop shielding my eyes from the pain and hurt and hunger all around me. I mean that literally, because I'm starting to think that God may want me to actually feed people who are hungry. I'm starting to think that I will lose out on the real Gospel and real Jesus if I don't start being around the people Jesus was around when He was on earth. And really, I'm starting to take more seriously the thought that God may be holding me accountable to the knowledge and resources He stewarded to me, and I know that I'm not doing a good enough job.

When my roommates and I moved into our house we were thinking it could be a place of hospitality. In other words, fellowship. In my western worldview, hospitality is for believers. Maybe throw in one or two non believers to keep us salty, and that's it. Great, fine, we are serving God with our house. And maybe that's not a bad thing, but if feels a lot like blessing people who are already blessed. We had people over last night and all I could think was, "What if this many christians, the 20 of us that had gathered DID something? What if instead of watching a Star Wars movie, we prayed for the world, went out and gave from our abundance, what if we cared more to bless those who have nothing than to sit together and become distracted from the destruction happening outside our door."

Am I too radicle? Am I taking this too far? Didn't Jesus command a day of Sabbath? Aren't we allowed to rest together and just watch a movie? (Is watching a movie rest or is being in His presence intentionally rest?)

Well think about this: We were together from about 8pm-12pm, that's about 4 hours. 60 minutes times 4 = 240 minutes. 60 seconds in every minute would be 14,400 seconds we spent together. Divided by the 1 person every 3.6 seconds. 4,000 people died  from hunger last night while we were watching our movie.

That is not to guilt or to shame anyone. I am merely trying to say that there is need in this world and as the Church we need start caring. As the next generation we need to start caring. As humans we have to care. Intentionality and prayer need to characterize our communities. We will truly stand by and let the world die if we don't start helping. Our passivity is hurting people and is keeping the Gospel from going out. People need Jesus more than food or water. But Jesus also told us to feed people.

I for one want to respond to this call. But before I can keep others from dying, I first my die. I must die to my desires, my lusts, and I must die to the way that I clench my fists around the things I want in this physical world. I hold on so tightly. But I must die daily, or this gospel, this healing, this Truth, it will never survive. And in turn, I and many more will not as well. 

It is in His blood, through his Spirit, and for His glory that I begin this journey, It's bound to be bumpy, raw, and hard, but if you're interested, feel free to join, 

1 Cor 6:19-20 "You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."