We are trying to follow the path God has our for our family.
Some days the path is clear, the hiking is easy, along a beautiful river, even.
Other days the path is overgrown with grass, uphill, tiring, and the river cannot be seen.
And then there are days when the path is filled with obstacles we must climb over and the path seems to lead straight into the river of churning rapids.
We pray to have the courage to stay on the path and the discernment to know what that means for our lives each day.
Recently we were confronted with this statistic:
Every day.
26,000 children!
And so we had to ask, "What does that mean for our path? For our life as a family well fed in America?"
The Bible says,
Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, "Behold we did not know this," does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will He not repay man according to his work? Proverbs 24:11-12
We know they are dying, we cannot pretend we do not know.
And so we asked what we can do about it.
We are in the process of adopting 1 child from Ethiopia. We sponsor 2 others in Africa.
But, we began to feel that was far from enough.
We don't have all the answers and are still struggling with this issue and what God would have our family do.
But we did come up with one easy answer.
We are canceling our cable TV.
The end of this month (and not coincidentally right after Lost ends forever because we are still selfish), it is gone!
Two more children rescued from death just with the price of television we've grown to hate watching (2 shows per week is all we watch and 1 is ending) anyway.
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It's amazing how far our money can go in supporting less-privileged children. I was appalled at the amount of money I spend on my takeaway coffee - I can sponsor so many children with my coffee addiction. It's something so minor for me, but life-changing for them. May God bless your family as you follow His path.
ReplyDeletegood thoughts. blessed children who are learning them from you. our cable is only 20 bucks a month. right now being out of work I don't feel like I can do more except we donate all our outgrown and gently used toys and clothes to big brothers and big sisters. oh and we put food out for the postal service food drive. a little here and there adds up to big for someone.
ReplyDeleteI have been sponsoring children since I got out of college. Some days I think about stopping because our family budget is so tight. Then, I realize that what I am spending to sponsor kids goes sooo much further in their countries than in ours and that I simply have always felt called to help in this way. Years ago, I had the privilege of meeting one of my sponsor chidlren in the Philippines when I was living and working in Japan. What a rich blessing it was to spend a day with him and his dad - both so vibrant, spiritually strong and contagiously happy. And this from a family with a child (the same child I was sponsoring) who was near death when he first entered the sponsorship program. Their faith and happiness with simple living has stayed with me as an example since -- one I should follow more often. Thank you for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteBless you..I wrote about that very statistic on my blog yesterday and our family is undergoing the same type of internal scrutiny. Where can we cut back in order to help the least of these...praying for your adoption and your generous hearts!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said. You've challenged me to search my heart, friend.
ReplyDeleteI passed a "Sweet Blog" award your way, today. You really do have a sweet spirit.
This is so good. I always struggle with these kinds of statistics, b/c I know I can't fix it for everyone. But then I think that's a cop out. Your post is food for thought.
ReplyDeleteGood for you. A needed reminder that the little (and big) things we can give up can make a world of difference. Blessings to you and yours on this journey.
ReplyDeleteWe are in full-time ministry ourselves - working to accelerate Bible translation with Wycliffe - It's so important to give our kids a heart for serving the Lord and not just get focused on ourselves and our own petty wants. What a great post - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteToliversToTexas.blogspot.com
My mother-in-law has spent the last two summers in Africa - Zambia to be exact. She and the other teachers she went with noticed that the children were having lots of trouble focusing due to their lack of nutrition. They also noticed how the hair of the children would be "rust" colored on top, due to malnutrition. So what they did is they raised funds to purchase vitamins and a protein powder that could be added to the "mush" that they are fed once a day. This will give them the protein they need to carry them further throughout their day, as well as allow them to focus better and be able to concentrate on learning. I think this is a way we can ALL get involved. We held a women's breakfast at our church and pre-purchased a whole bunch of the vitamins. Then instead of a cost for the breakfast, the women bought bottles of vitamins to be shipped to the children in Africa. That is possibly one way you can help! Thanks so much for laying this on the hearts of your readers! God Bless.
ReplyDeleteKelly, KS