FooD FoR THouGHT

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of going to church with a group in a village. The group, like many groups, had bought food at a local store to give out to the people of the village. Having said that, there were many differences, though, with how this group and the SCORE pastor handled the food distribution.

Unlike other groups, we bought the food and separated into type. So, in the church it was lined up in stacks of rice, beans, corn meal, buillon cubes, cookies (as a treat) and tuna. People poured into the church and before handing out the food, the pastor of the church got up and spoke to the people about the food. Basically, he explained that there were many people who were in the church that day -- some whom he had never met. But, he was glad everyone was there. They had come to get fed. The food that we had brought to the church would last them for a few days, but he was going to tell them about some "food" that would last for eternity. He went from there to explain the good news about Jesus Christ.

After that, he handed out the food to help provide for their physical needs.

We ran out of food that day. Not everyone got some. Actually, the only people who got food were people in the church. In a perfect world, everyone would have gotten food, but the pastor said unfortunately that wasn't possible that day. There just wasn't enough.

Is there justice in feeding the people of the church first? Well, after leaving the church that day, I found a verse in the Bible that talked about the need to nourish physically the people of the church so that they can go out an meet the needs of those outside of the church.

The people had signed up probably at church one day to receive the food. So, those who didn't ever come didn't get on the list. It is possible as well that some "church people" didn't get fed either.

FooD FoR THouGHT.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to experience a village get fed spiritually and physically. I am still amazed by the overwhelming amount of things (including necesities) that we have such an abundance of, of how wasteful we are, non-appreciative and even stingy. Something to think about, isn't it?