Where did 2025 go? Here we are on what I expect to be my last blog post of the year, and then we will be crossing over into a brand-new year. A year full of POTENTIAL. A year full of OPPORTUNITY. And for some, another year without enough food with their meals. It is for THOSE brothers and sisters in Zambia that Shoulder 2 Shoulder was begun in late 2020. And they are still the primary target of our efforts.
After I wrote my Christmas bonus blog midweek, I got a text from a younger brother that I don't get to see as often as I did decades ago. The text shared that he and his family were trying to help an immigrant family with some emergency needs. He laid out the needs specifically, and I had to WRESTLE, as you know I often do, with my own self. These are AMERICAN needs. The work we do in Zambia is SO efficient. For every $100 of our generosity that I aim towards making a small difference in someone's life here in America, I can provide some food for a month to 20 Zambian families. So, I wrestled. In the end, Ronda shared a little of our surplus with them so they could help this family in need. And my young brother was grateful. But it was hard - and I don't think it should have been so hard.
At S2S we do our very best to use the model of GENEROSITY we see in so many texts from the ancient scriptures, and do you know how many I can find that talk of EFFICIENCY? None that I can think of. But there is one text that ALWAYS stands out when I am considering generosity, and that is found in I Timothy 6. Here is that text, in my favorite MESSAGE translation:
I Timothy 6:17-19 - Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.
Did you catch that part about "efficiency" in our generosity? No. Because it wasn't there. Instead, the text says we should be EXTRAVAGANTLY GENEROUS. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what that actually means. But I'm have this sinking feeling it DOESN'T mean to waste time wrestling over EFFICIENCY when an opportunity to share arises.
Hopefully we are all still growing, and I know I have a long way to go. But compared to just a few years ago, I am really feeling that "life that is truly life" promise take hold in my own life.
My life is NOT what I expected it to be when I was a teenager.
My life is NOT what I expected it to be as a young adult.
My life is NOT even what I expected it to be today had you asked me ten years ago. So many unexpected twists and turns. So much pain, and pain in the lives of those I love so much.
But my life is a GOOD life. Maybe even a "life that is truly life."
S2S will finish 2025 strong this week and look forward to the opportunities to be had in the new year. Nearly all of the December feeding reports are in - almost 3,200 families reportedly impacted so far. A clean water project has been completed. Our twelfth successful project of 2025!
During 2025, this small community we call S2S provided over 40,000 bags of maize to Zambian families in need. And we provided a new CLEAN WATER source in twelve rural Zambian communities, transforming entire communities with safe, easily accessible water.
The mention of clean water projects reminds me - if you LOVE the fact that we did 12 projects in 2025 and would like to be a part of a repeat of that impact in 2026, start now considering what month you might be able to share a $2,000 gift for clean water. You want to talk about efficiency!! With that amount you could not change more than a couple of American lives for more than a couple of months. But in Zambia, that gift CHANGES A COMMUNITY for as long as that water source holds out. We still have active boreholes all over Zambia dating back to early 2021 when we did the first of our 29 successful projects. What an amazing way to be EXTRAVAGANTLY GENEROUS!!
Our trainers continue to train. Their demonstration fields are planted. We have delivered inputs to 436 families that have participated in the training and will now be able to practice it in their own small fields. Pray for the rains to continue!
Not sure there is a better way to close out another year than with a hearty THANK YOU!!
To the ten American churches or small group communities that supported us at some point during 2025, we say THANK YOU!!
To the 71 American households that have donated a little bit of their surplus in 2025, we say THANK YOU!!
To the small subset of that group that donated specifically for the inputs we just delivered, we say THANK YOU!!
To the 34 American households that are now donating a little bit of the surplus MONTHLY, we say THANK YOU!!
To the six Zambians who do everything we ask them to do to manage the work throughout the country, we say THANK YOU!! I think this is a small enough and important enough group I should just NAME them, so THANK YOU to Pastor B, Isaac, Mathews, Lamec, Thomas and Josh!!!
To the pastors and leaders at the 124 communities where we partner to share into their deficit, we say THANK YOU!!
To all who are following my blog, and especially those that "like" it once in a while, you can be sure that encourages me greatly, and I say THANK YOU!!
May 2026 be a year filled with EXTRAVAGANT GENEROSITY as we grow into the LOVING people we believe we were created to become. Amen.
