I just love these pictures we get every month from our partners as they are providing the maize to our brothers and sisters in need. I particularly noticed the huge smiles on a few of these ladies today. We are definitely making a difference in these lives! The results of LOVEĀ in action!
Every time IĀ try to even imagine what life would be like in this kind of defecit, I know I simply fall short. I have no idea what it's like to have a perpetually empty stomach. I have no idea what it is like to see your children, love your children, but not be able to provide them with the nutrition they need to thrive in life. I have no idea the stress felt by those parents looking for an answer to their hunger problem. Ā I have no idea what it must be like to choose between no water or the dirty water that is the only available option. My life can be hard. But it has never involved any of those worries.
In Zambia on our last trip in the midst of my ministry overview with the leadership, at the part of the presentation where IĀ am talking about the TRADE - we believe this is a trade of surplus for deficit that is going in BOTH directions - I asked each of our groups if they have ever prayed for God to provide food for their family. Every Zambian hand went up in those meetings. That is something IĀ have never experienced, and, honestly, I am so thankful that IĀ haven't had to experience that! Again, it is hard for me to even imagine! But IFĀ I can actually get to that spot in my mind, where I have no food for my family, and my only option is to pray to the heavens, and IF then suddenly there was a little bit of food available, that would increase my FAITH!!
Our brothers and sisters in Zambia seem to have amazing FAITH.
We sometimes talk about faith, but I'm not sure we even know what we are talking about. We have FAITH in something. But we seldom actually have to exercise that FAITH. It is often relegated to some mental assent stuck in our heads. How would we ever exercise FAITH in a society where we have everything we need and then some?
At S2S, we believe our FAITH GROWS when we SHARE into the physical deficits of our brothers and sisters. How? The small amount of surplus IĀ just moved OUTĀ of my account in order to purchase some of the Zambia 2026 harvest means I won't have access to that surplus IFĀ I would need it sometime down the road. I certainly didn't need it today. But my FAITH is so small, IĀ want to hang onto it JUSTĀ INĀ CASE... while my brothers and sisters in Zambia starve. I believe when I move that small amount of surplus OUTĀ of my account, there is no other reasonable expectation than that my FAITH must grow. I just traded a little bit of my surplus for a little more FAITH.
It doesn't really get me any closer to imagining what my brothers and sisters in Zambia are going through. But it answers the challenge Paul put forward to his brothers and sisters in Corinth in chapter 8 of his second letter to them, when he wrote:
This isn't so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. Ā No, you're shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even.
We haven't really gotten to a good understanding of that last sentence. How does my sharing a little bit of my surplus with someone so they can have a little less deficit somewho make us even? Well, he does write, "In the end..." so maybe that could be a reference to the next life. It doesn't seem to make much sense to me in this context, but in a broader context, since we know I don't get to take my surplus with me past the grave, and it makes sense the brother or sister living in poverty doesn't tek their deficit with them past the grave, I guess that could be what Paul is trying to get across.
Either way, no matter how much IĀ have given, I still find IĀ have to be careful not to eat too much, and IĀ still just have to walk into the next room for some clean water.
Three weeks ago, when IĀ reported progress to date on our harvest offering, we had collected $26,000 and believed we had another $20,000 committed. As of today, we have collected around $70,000 and believe we have another $15,000 committed. That is a good three weeks! The hard part is we only have another five weeks before we will be needing to send over whatever we have collected for purchase. We still have a lot of work to do. If you would like to take part and have questions, Rog or IĀ are easily contacted. If you have a friend, you think would benefit from hearing about what S2S is doing, YOU would seem to be the best person to invite them in, but one of us could be the second best, and again, we are available to reach out to your friend. If you know of an organization or church community that may be open to involvement in our work, we would love to get in front of them! Once again, YOUĀ are probably the best person to make that introduction.
Before you go, take one last look at the smiles on those faces. They are so beautiful! We did that. Together. There is so much more we can do.
Got FAITH?
