One Meal for One Child

This past Sunday, our Pastor challenged us with a sermon based on Luke 12:32-34, calling it simply, "I'm Rich!" It was a message that was nothing new, but somehow, God used very familiar scripture to illuminate my sin once again. We live in the richest nation the world has ever known. Yet we hoard our resources like no one else. Why? For me, it is because I am selfish and in love with stuff...this world stuff. I use stuff to placate my loneliness, pain and feeling sorry for myself. So I buy myself something and justify that I 'need' it for something, or that since it is on sale, or inexpensive that it is somehow ok for me to have it. Or that I am going to use it for someone else. But God has been teaching me that it is not ok, and that I do not need more stuff. In fact, if I buy something I don't need, someone else who does need it may not be able to get one. And that when I do need something, he will provide it. I do understand that our Father gives good gifts to his children, but I am learning that good gifts are not what I suppose they are. Good gifts are sometimes physical gifts, but the ones I really want are the ones like he really wants to give: Spiritual gifts that I cannot be ready to recieve until I am empty of my self and my desires for anything other than Him.

All that to say, that our Pastor without knowing it, spoke straight from the Heart of God to my heart Sunday. Basically, he said, in a nutshell to offer all you are and all you have, giving as you have been blessed. I loved the way he explained the verse that says, "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." He said that  your heart will follow your treasure, not the other way around. So we need to store up our treasures in heaven because that is where our heart is.

At the end of the message, he quoted something from "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. It was something that had hit me square in the heart when I read Crazy Love last month. He said that people are always saying that if God is such a loving God, why doesn't he do something about the hunger in the world? Then he said that God is probably weeping and looking down saying, "yeah! why don't you do something? You have the world's riches at your disposal. Why don't you do something?"

As we were driving home, I asked the Fam: "what are some practical things we can do to 'do something?'" What can our little family (which isn't so little) do when there are so many needs? Then God struck us with an idea: One meal for One child. We could sacrifice one meal a week to support a hungry child through the One Child program at our church. (want to know about One Child? click Here.)  So we are going to skip lunch on Wednesday and give that money to feed and clothe 'one of the least of these'. I got to thinking about this and realized that we eat about 90 meals a month. Most of the world eats less than 30. And our meals are not cheap. We eat good, healthy, mostly organic food. I figure we spend on average, for the 6 of us who all eat like adults, (not including breakfast, which is a cheap meal at about $10.00 unless we eat out, then all bets are off) about $30.00 a meal, especially when we eat out. And we eat out alot. Now for most people, that is a huge amount of money, I know. But that is not the point. The point is what we can do. We decided that our Wednesday lunch could support One Child at $30.00. Thats 4 children that we can support per month! or we could sponsor a national pastor for $100 and still have enough by adding only $10 to support one child.
Then I was thinking: What if everyone embraces this concept? What if every Christ follower in every church would give up one meal a week to support hungry people around the world? We could really do something about hunger. I know some people have medical issues, and other reasons they cannot go without a meal. Some people don't have enough themselves. I am not talking about them. I am talking about people like me, who have more than enough being willing to sacrifice one meal for the One who sacrificed it all for us? Because like he said, "if you do it unto the least of these, you do it unto Me."

The kids were worried about being hungry, but I assured you that we will eat a late breakfast, then have an early dinner, and no snacks in between. I let them know that a little hunger wouldn't kill them and that it was good to know what other children must feel all the time. And that the little hunger pains would be nothing compared to what Jesus suffered for us.

Tomorrow will be our first Family Fast.  One meal for One Child. Could you do the same? Or maybe One Fivebucks for One Child. Or maybe you, like me might not need that new gizmo or book or whatever. Will you join us? What will you sacrifice? How will you make a difference? There are lots of great organizations that would be worthy of your contributions. http://www.compassioninternational.org/ and World Vision are two of my favorites. Whatever God leads you to do, do it with joy, as unto Him!

Vacation!!

Well, my honey and I just returned from a 3 night getaway celebrating our 29th anniversary. It was so much fun, and so relaxing to just do nothing for a few days.
  We escaped to Miami, actually to the Mayfair Hotel in Coconut Grove. Most of our time was spent wandering around the streets of the Grove, shopping in the quirky little shops and eating. I think we went from one meal to thinking about the next. There are so many great restaurants in Miami that we did not even scratch the surface (or the flat-top). But undaunted by that fact, we gave it a valliant effort. We checked out Urban Spoon's recomendations, and off we went. I won't bore you with all the delicious tidbits, but here are the best meals we had:
For Breakfast: The Grove Spot
We both chose the Kiwi Sampler. It came with 1 Egg, (we chose to have it poached light), homefries, which were flecked with BOTH bacon AND prociutto, as well as sauteed onion and tomato, toast, and an authentic English banger (sausage). All for only $7. I also had the yoghurt and fresh fruit which was a massive bowl that I think I could have gone for a swim in. The yoghurt was a little thin, but tasty just the same. And, how sad for us that, according to the waiter the chef felt like giving us 2 poached eggs instead of one! Lucky us! (I can imagine why two eggs, since you are going to the trouble to boil the water, add the vinegar and mess with poaching, might as well do 4 instead of just 2. Why bother with all that fuss for just two eggs?)

For Lunch: Gardeners Market
What a great little market! Fresh bread, cheese, wine, deli, and a huge salad bar. 4 different kinds of soup. (The carrot bisque was divine!) I had a hard time choosing, but my hubby knew exactly what to order. I eventually decided on the salad bar, fruit and the soup. Don got the Capri sub, on a whole wheat baguette. It had pesto, prociutto, buffalo mozzarella, and thick heirloom tomatoes. Delicious!

For Dinner: It was a toss up between Two Chefs and Georges in the Grove
The reason it was a toss up was because Georges had better appetizers and their dessert was just as good as Two Chefs, but the Meatloaf at Two Chefs won over the lamb shank at Georges. We had Roasted beet with goat cheese at both places, and Georges was better. More beets, better roasting, and better dressing, which gave the whole dish another layer of flavor of buttery deliciousness.  Two Chefs crusted and deep-fried the goat cheese, which was totally unnecessary, and a bit disgusting. Made it taste greasy and flat.
We also had the Buffalo Caprese salad at Georges, and other than a couple of the tomato wedges being a little mealy, it was fantastic.
For our entree at Georges, we chose the 3 hour braised lamb shank with white beans. It was seasoned with Garam Masala, which gave it a gingery clove flavor. A little sweetness, but good. It was served with white beans, which for me did nothing to add to or take away from the shank. They were just there. I think a risotto might have been nice instead, but what flavor? Maybe thats why they chose the beans. At Two Chefs I had the Coc au Vin, which was good, but not great. It was served with Potato Croquettes, and they were yummy, but I could only eat one, since they were deep fried and I was saving my fat quota for the dessert.
Don had the Meatloaf served with Horseradish mashed potatoes and prociutto wrapped roasted asparagus. And I thought I should save my fat quota! His was the winning meal of all, because the meatloaf and potatoes were the most delicious things we ate the whole week. Besides dessert, of course. The meatloaf was extrordinary, and I am going to crave that for the rest of my life. I hope they serve that in heaven. And I hope I have 2 tummys. It was that good.
Dessert was equally as good at both restaurants. Two chefs: chocolate souffle, with creme anglais AND chocolate ganache. Don told me that he didn't think you were supposed to eat the creme and the chocolate ganache with a spoon. How else were you supposed to eat it? Perhaps you were suppose to turn it up and drink it? I could have, you know. But I settled for the spoon. I tried to spoon it over my souffle, but the spoon had a mind of its own and kept diverting itself directly into my mouth. Eventually I had to put the spoon down....I had reached my fat quota for the decade. I did decide right then and there that I was going to have to teach Faith how to make the perfect souffle. After I learn how to make them. I cant wait to get started. My fat quota will be getting a workout. So will my muscles, since I dont want to wear the quota around my waist!
Georges had a great Creme Brulee. Little tiny portion, too....NOT! It was served in one of those side dish containers that was twice, maybe three times the size of a ramekin that it is usually served in.That lent itself to hold Lots of nicely browned sugar on top. It was enough for 4 people. Which was nice, since we ate with Dons brother and his wife who live down south. Which made the meal even more delightful.

But now we are back to reality, and I have lots of posts of projects to put up in the next few days. Hopefully I will get to it soon. In the mean time, stop drooling and go visit one of these fine places. Or find your own and let me know about it! Enable my food addiction!