Last week's cover pic showed a small stack of 50kg bags of shelled maize at one of our small churches. This week's pic shows a sea of 50kg bags at our largest church, which is Hope Baptist Church in Chipata. This church of nearly 2,000 members will be able to provide monthly support to more than 100 families for the next 12 months because of the harvest effort and a little bit of American generosity. Interestingly, even though this church is located right in Chipata City, they had 49 members trained during the growing season by pastor/trainer Peter Tembo. My understanding is that many of these growers have family plots outside the city, and our hope is the training they received will help their families move toward a healthier, more meaningful life in community in and around Chipata.
I now have actual inventory counts at around half of the church communities where we are partnering. And, unfortunately, I am already encountering places where, in the chaos of updating member counts, I made mistakes in my target inventories. My day has begun with a nice warm run and some communication with Mathews on how we can fix a couple of my errors so that some smaller churches don't wind up with way more than they should and some larger churches don't feel slighted. I know some of you pastor partners read this blog, so let me just apologize for any concern and bad feelings this error may have caused you. We will attempt to move some bags around, but please understand whether they are at a church large or small, some Zambian brothers and sisters will have supplemental maize in their homes because of this effort. Probably doesn't help too much when your community is suffering. We do our best...
Meanwhile, the August trip Rog is leading is still being planned and provided for. Including a new borehole being provided at the site of the intended animal facility. Maybe by next week I will have some pictures of that. That will be our 35th clean water project over the last 6 years. A quick reminder, since this is one of my favorite reminders of the efficiency of this effort, that we can do a clean water project in Zambia for around $2,000. How much could you change your life or any other American life with a gift of $2,000? In Zambia, we can provide a clean water source for a community that may have been traveling miles for their water for generations. Ā And the water at that destination may or may not have been clean. As much as I love our feeding program, and the thousands that have been impacted, IĀ love these clean water projects and would love to do more!!
Since I included the I John 3:16-17 text last week and noted the reference to the "cold shoulder" I thought IĀ would just go back to the text that we named the organization after to compare the "shoulder' reference. Here it is:
2 Corinthians 8:13-14 (The MESSAGE) 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.
Once again, a reminder that this can't be all about economic equality. We have so much surplus from an economic standpoint here in America that equality with our Zambian brothers and sisters doesn't seem realistic. There are apparently other aspects of life to be considered besides economic equality. One thought Rog and I have identified is that our Zambian brothers and sisters, living in economic deficit, may well have a deeper FAITH than we can ever imagine here. It is hard for me to relate, having never been concerned about where my next meal will come from. Around 2,700 Zambian families who have been praying for their next meal will receive a 12kg provision of shelled maize later this month, and then monthly for the next year. I could imagine that kind of a provision from God really increasing one's faith. We believe our faith grows when we let go of some of our surplus and share with our brothers and sisters in need. From a real practical perspective, giving up some of our financial security to be "shoulder to shoulder with them all the way" MUST increase our faith.
And demonstrate our love.
Or we can turn a cold shoulder. Hang onto our surplus. Maybe figure out ways to not consider it surplus at all. Maybe argue we are building it up so we can do more later. While our brothers and sisters struggle TODAY.
