I heard a statistic just recently on hunger and starving people. I've heard these stats before, and sometimes they move me, cause pain in my heart, and sometimes this type info does not. Why? Usually it depends on where I am spiritually, where I am geographically, and what I am doing physically to alleviate the needs of the poor.
If I am spiritually in a state of decline often I just pass off the numbers of people I here in Africa, India, or wherever who are suffering and dying daily of starvation. Simply put, satan tells me lies like, "What can you do? You live on another continent. You don't know anyone who is that poor. You are a good enough Christian. Let someone else do it." When I am in a sorry state of spirituality I listen to lies like these and more.
If I am in Mexico in one of the areas we serve as workers I can't pass the numbers off, because I know kids who get maybe one meal a day, maybe only one meal every couple days. Or if I am in El Salvador visiting two missionary friends they share pictures with me of babies who are dying of starvation, all emaciated and with sunken eyes. You can't see those photos and not be affected. I remember the first time I went onto their website. I honestly can say I cried and had to turn away the first time I saw the photos of babies suffering from malnutrition on their website. Why? My heart hurt. I couldn't handle seeing what I saw.
My wife says I shouldn't get so overwhelmed by these type things, she sometimes says I am too emotional. She's right and she's wrong. Don't you love it when someone tells you that? Well, you are both right and wrong at the same time. How can that be?
I shouldn't let it get to me emotionally when I hear the number of children who will die in Africa or El Salvador because of lack of food, but I do.
Something else gets too me emotionally as well. This one you might not like and you might want to stop reading. That's okay. We are all wired differently and have different soft spots, so to say.
The other thing, (okay, there are many things that get to me, this is just one of many) often that perturbs me is how much money we Christians spend on useless, trivial items which we think we need. Again, I will mention, if you don't like what is written from this point forward, click a button and forget about this post.
Often what we think we need in the physical isn't at all what we need. We know that, but we buy stuff anyway. I know I should eat a salad or turkey sandwich for lunch, but a hamburger from BK sounds so much better. I know I don't need to buy a book for full price right after it comes out, better to wait a few months and get it used and for much cheaper, right?
The rub comes when our perception of physical needs hurts others. Yes, when what we must buy, must have affects others. There are a myriad of ways our purchases affect others in poor regions of the world. Books have been written on this by much wiser men and women than me. I am thinking of only one. Here it is.
When I spend $20 on an item that I think that I need, I must have that money is gone from my wallet. I can't respend that $20, or recycle it, or wish it back. It is gone. My wallet's total amount of dinero has been deducted by a whopping -20. If I had $60 before my purchase I know have $40. Simple math, right?
Let's say that same day I am sitting at home and a children's organization places one of those tv ads during a break of my favorite college football game and I see the commercial. You know the ones. There is a sweet child from a third world country in a incredibly poor village, a skinny child of course. Then there is the plea for help,"For only $20, this child, Keyla, can have food to eat and clean water to drink. For only $20...." (Oh, I should have mentioned that people die all across the globe as well because they don't have access to clean drinking water. No Dasani in poor countries.)
So, there you have it. Your $20 bill is gone, been used for a small purchase. No way to regain it and send it off to that children's organization. Sure, you can send another $20, however, the 20 that has been spent is no longer yours, it belongs to someone else, possibly Wal-Mart, Burger King, or the Academy sports store.
Now maybe this is not a conflict for most people, doesn't even phase you. Fine, but for some people this sort of stuff just hits you right in the gut, giving you a sense of, "What should I do? How can I help?"
Research, open your eyes, find an organization that is feeding the poor(or providing clean drinking water) to people in another country outside the US. Pray. Stop spending so much on you and things you think you need, but you really....what's the word....uh.....my brain has frozen....don't need.
Hey, I said you may not like what you read here. I was being honest. Oh, what's that statistic on how many children will die today of starvation that I mentioned at the beginning? It doesn't matter. It matters that even one should die today, the day you read this. One child matters, especially if it is yours.
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