A little less talk,and a lot more action

Thanks for the comments regarding “Ripples”.  There has never been a time to demonstrate to people that “His love is enough” as my brother Mark once wrote in a song, or that “His Grace is Enough”, which is one of my favorite songs currently.  Over the coming years, there is going to be a lot less to distract all of us from God, leaving people the option to surrender to Him or continue to be disappointed by the things that do not matter to Him, such as the things that once brought mindless distractions and empty pleasures, or the lifetime pursuits that can be stripped away in an instant.   

The answer to the problems in America is find the heart of God, and we have been too drunk to see His heart as a nation for a long time.   The recent sobering events will cause many people to ask where our joy comes from in the midst of this incredible uncertainty, and why our dinner tables are filled with conversations of thanks and stories of divine appointments that God has provided to share His heart of giving with people.  He gave so much more than food, yet it can be the beginning of understanding for many people to see a demonstration of His goodness and to understand the full extent of His love.  The only question is how many of Gods people will demonstrate what they believe in the midst of the most receptive time in our lifetime to consider the need for God in their lives, or continue to only “talk” about what they believe.

Creating a Ripple Through Food Rescue

This week I heard a great story from best selling author Tim Sanders about a group of employees at a company that with one action started “a ripple” that made a difference.  After the Katrina disaster, a shoe company took their employees to New Orleans for their annual meeting to try to provide any assistance they could, and some of them drove in a school bus to the ninth ward.  One employee asked a man serving in the wreckage what he could do to help, and the man said they needed shoes to walk through the wreckage.  The employee immediately took off his shoes and gave them to the man who expressed the need, and the recipients reaction and the subsequent realization of the employee of what it was like to have inadequate covering for your feet while navigating the disaster caused a “ripple”.  Very soon, every member on the bus had taken off their shoes to donate to the 9th Ward, and a picture was taken and spread throughout the company that caused a ripple that led to many other acts of charity, all due to the action of one man who did one small thing that impacted many.

It’s really hard to say what the future holds for Food Rescue, but each time we perform the simple act of rescuing food and delivering it to people in need, the ripple started almost a year ago becomes more powerful.  The difficult times we are facing economically in America will be puncuated by many stories of heartache, but trumped by stories of grace and mercy if the citizens of our country are willing to create “ripples” through demonstrations of sacrificial giving to one another such as giving the shoes off of your feet for a brother in need.  

As we are bombarded daily with finger pointing during this presidential election season, perhaps it is important to note that our country needs a change of heart much more than it needs one party or the other.  If we aren’t determined collectively to create “ripples”, it will never matter who resides on Pennsylvania Avenue, because the selfishness and sense of entitlement that got us into this mess will sink us further into the abyss if it is not corrected.  My prayer is that we can play a role in that correction with our own little “ripple” through Food Rescue.

Food Rescue in Chicago

Hello Food Rescuers,

Jenanne DeVita, our chapter president in Chicago is having severe headaches over the last 10 days, and I would ask for all of you to keep her in your prayers.  She is going to have to limit her involvement with Food Rescue until she can find an answer.  Please also pray that God would send laborers to step to the plate to continue the efforts she has put forth to this point to feed people in need in Chicago.

Thanks,

John

Humor is good

Even when it has nothing to do with Food Rescue.

My 12 year old daughter shared that they prayed for a woman who was bed ridden at her youth group.  She was pregnant, and according to Ellen, “Having trouble with her womb.”  The following was the exhange between my 12, 9, and 5 year old girls.

9 year old: “Her what?”

12 year old:  “Her womb”

9 year old: “Her what?”

12 year old:  “Her womb”

9 year old: “Huh?

5 year old yells:  “HER ROOM”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!