Making the Difference...

Now that God has been opening my eyes, I have spent so much time feeling very overwhelmed.  I'm sure I'm not alone.  We are just a mass of good-intending Christians... but when we are faced with REAL problems that face others around the world we just don't know what to do.  Yes, we can be amazing when we do a "collection drive" and give piles and piles out of our excess.  But what can we REALLY do?

Most (sadly) feel completely satisfied that they have done their good deed and that they received a check mark in that spiritual box marked "giving".  Yet I can't seem to get these two little facts out of my daily conscience...

163,000,000 orphans worldwide
15,000 children die EVERY DAY due to starvation

One very familiar story has been echoing in my spirit... the story of the starfish on the beach...

An old man walks along a beach and sees a young boy throwing something into the water. As he approaches, he sees hundreds of starfish lining the beach, washed in from the tide. The young boy is walking along, throwing the starfish back into the water one by one. The old man asks why he bothers, it’s pointless. There are too many starfish to help them all. As he flings a starfish deep into the water, the young boy replies, “It mattered to that one.”

I, just like that old man, sometimes feel like the numbers are so many... how can I help?

All those lost and lonely children!   All those that I can't feed with my hands!  What can I do?

And yet, Jesus has reveled to me the same answer that the young boy gave to the old man...

I can make a difference to ONE.

I can't take in all 163 million orphans, but I can stand in the gap for those who need me to.

I can't bring food to the 15 thousand who die every year, but I can make sacrifices in our family and teach my children to sacrifice in order to do my part financially to support those who are on the front lines of this battle against starvation.

Who will join me?  Every one we help really does matter!