My Fasting Experience - Longing to Eat What Fell From the Rich Man's Table

On the eighteenth day of my twenty-one day fast, I served as a WatchDOG at Olivia's school. This wonderful program invites dads to serve for a day at their child's school. We help car riders unload and get into school.  We push swings at recess.  We review flash cards with students who are struggling.  We open six to seven hundred milk cartons, yogurt containers and Lunchables lids.  It is a great program!  It also gives dads a new appreciation for teachers! I usually enjoy my days at the school serving as WatchDOG.  However, when I signed up in January for a Wednesday in April, I didn't know I would be fasting, living life at 50-75% speed.  The kindergarteners on the playground didn't expect that either.

Recess was a bit rough, but I made it.  Two hours of lunchroom help, however, did me in.  At the end of lunch, with a few hours left in the school day, I had to give in and go home.  I just couldn't do it.

But that is not the purpose of this post.  The cafeteria crisis was deeper.  I have written earlier that after even one day of fasting, the hunger pains go away.  If you have experimented with fasting, you really must try a multi-day fast sometime. It is not has tortuous as you have imagined - the hunger pains really do go away!  But by day 18, having lost more than twenty pounds, I was getting hungry.  And desire for food increased in the presence of it!  The hot lunch options for the day included a hot dog or roasted chicken.  You can imagine which option most of the kids selected.  It was so hard to open container after container.  I just wanted a bite.  Near the end of each class's lunchtime, the students walk to the end of the table and dump their styrofoam trays, sporks and uneaten leftovers. I found myself longing for a leftover.  Gross, I know, but hey, I was hungry and there was food!

No, this is not a post on how Americans waste too much food, or a critique of school lunch programs.  If you want that, write your own blog post on the topic.

Here is the takeaway from my lunchroom longings:  I wondered how many hungry children in developing nations or in overcrowded cities walk past electronics stores and stare at televisions in the windows showing first world citizens eating cheeseburgers, hot dogs, cake and specialty coffees. As   gaze at life in a distant world, do they long for just a bite of food, of any food, but get no nourishment, neither from their own family or government, or from the families they see feasting around the world?  Do they, like the beggar Lazarus who lived outside the gates of the unnamed rich man, long to eat even the scraps that fall from our tables?  That story in Luke 16 scares me.  You see, I am a one-percenter, globally speaking.  And most likely so are you.  So are all of the campers who "occupied" Wall Street a few summers ago. 

When I am not fasting, I am feasting, and most likely so are you.  If "overeating" is the consumption of more calories than are needed to maintain healthy BMI, then I am guilty.  How can I regularly feast/overeat in good conscience while others are starving?  The parable of the rich man and Lazarus scares me.  Just sayin...

A second image raced through my mind as I stood in the cafeteria watching fifty gallon trash liners fill with leftovers and utensils.  I wonder how much of our processed food is packaged in foreign companies by underage workers earning pennies an hour, working seven days a week from dawn till dusk, sharing what they earn with their families but remaining hungry?  I have no research, so the answer might be zero.  But it might be in the thousands, too.  And as they watch my future snack food fall into one hundred calorie packages, and as they load trucks headed for my grocery store, do they long to sneak a bite to fill their stomachs, but stop short because they know the dreadful consequences?

I hesitated to write this for three weeks because I wanted to present viable solutions.   I wish I had answers. To say, "just give more money to the poor," is an easy, vague cop-out.  We all tried once to take up our mom's threat to send our vegetables to starving kids in China, but she never did ship that box, did she?  But somehow we must connect our personal eating habits to giving, to make it real, and more than a mere impersonal monetary donation.  I did have the idea that maybe whenever we eat out we should commit to giving a donation equal to the amount of our bill to a ministry that is feeding the starving.

Do you have ideas?  How can we truly share our food with those who are hungry and have no means to obtain it themselves?

If We All Do Something....My Something

A couple of months ago I preached a series on issues of social justice and working for equality and justice to the most vulnerable around the world.  Our motto was, "I can't do everything, but I can do something.  If we all do something, we can do everything."  I challenged our members to find their "something" - a way they could give/serve/lead that would connect with their passions.  Throughout and during that time, I prayed and considered what was my something.  I thought I knew what it was, but I didn't know how to get involved.

I first learned about micro-financing while I was in seminary.  Basically, there are people all around the world who work really hard and have great ideas for how to make life better, but they have no capital to invest in their ideas because they need every dime they earn to buy food.  Moreover, they are unable to get loans to start their businesses because either the loan amounts are too low and banks don't want the hassle, or their economies are so bad that the banking system is non-existent.  That is where micro-financing comes in.  Various ministries and other non-profits help these budding entrepreneurs by providing small loans, business coaching and accountability, and other help as needed.

The raging capitalist that is me loves this- truly a hand-up to those who are very poor and are willing to work hard and help themselves.  This is no entitlement program that traps individuals in a cycle of dependency!

But how could I help?  We live on a very tight budget that doesn't leave room for much extra.  We faithfully give a full tithe to our church.  Plus, I wanted to really make a difference- maybe even fully fund a loan and not just give $25 to ease my conscience.  Then I read The Hole In Our Gospel and God spoke clearly and convincingly.  A couple of years ago I sold my old flying-V guitar for $200 (ironically, for the same amount I paid for it twenty years ago).  I kept that $200 safe- hoping that someday I could add to it and buy the guitar that I really want - a Fender American Standard Stratocaster.  But I have 3 other guitars and rarely play any of them.  God said, "Give it away - loan it to some entrepreneur somewhere in the world.  That is your something."  Initially I resisted- but God really worked on my heart. 

So, with that money and some other birthday money I had been saving to spend on something I don't really need, Erica and I jumped onto Kiva.org and looked for someone who could use a loan.  Why Kiva, when there are lots of organizations who offer micro-loans?  With Kiva, when the loan has been re-paid, I get to loan that money to someone else- it helps me to stay personally engaged- which I need.  It might be a little selfish, but I need to stay connected to this.

Dionesia

I now have two new friends in the Philippines. Dionesia has a food production business, making baked goods and selling them to support her family.  She requested a loan of $250 to buy sugar, mayonnaise and other ingredients to make the food that she sells.  Someone else funded $100, and I was able to complete the funding with the last $150.  I imagine that Dionesia is working hard today to support her family and to grow her small business- and I have the privilege to be a part of that.  In February she will make her first payment of $35.  I will pray that she will be ready and able to repay her loan.

Cecelia

Cecelia is a farmer in the Philippines who has been growing and harvesting corn for 5 years.  Her farming operation produces $125 every month.  She requested a loan of $250 to purchase fertilizer and to pay for weeding services.  She is planning for a better harvest and for the ability to expand her fields and capacity.  Again, someone else funded $100, so I funded the last $150.  I can log onto my account and watch her progress and look for updates! I will be praying for Cecelia, that God will bless her farm and her crops, and that she will thank him and worship him!

By the way - if you want to check it out for yourself- go to Kiva.org. Or, you can help me by clicking on http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/jason9666 Apparently another donor set up this referral system, and if you decide to get involved (you can start with as little as $25), then that donor will give me another $25 that I can loan out to someone!  (And no, this is not the reason for posting all of this!  And no, this is not some network-marketing scheme.  I promise you I won't be calling you, wanting to talk about a great "opportunity.")


In the long run, I imagine I will never miss the money I was saving.  I may never buy another guitar- but that is really okay with me- I probably wouldn't play it all that much anyways.  Given the choice, I would much rather help these two ladies- and the others I get to help in the future after they repay their loans.  It kind of makes me want to look around for some other junk to sell.  In fact, does anybody need a guitar?  I have one I would like to sell!