So, I did the 30 Hour Famine from Friday, 10am, till Saturday, 4pm. And I raised money, and I was all happy that I was feeding someone, and it's about 3:30 on Saturday afternoon, and we're just half an hour away from food. Heck yeah, I'm excited. We were all in the sanctuary and some people were sharing about what they thought of the famine, and their initial reaction when they heard about it, etc.
It's finally 4:00, and I'm really looking forward to a nice grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup meal, like we had when we broke our fast last time we did it. So we line up to go get our food and we get into the fellowship center, and the bowls are all put out on the table, so I go and take a seat and look into my bowl, thinking "I love chicken noodle soup!".
What I saw was not chicken noodle soup. In fact, I had no clue what it was. It looked like refried beans mixed with corn meal. The girl next to me kept saying "This is a really bad joke." So, I'm sitting there, staring at this bowl of I-didn't-know-what and having no intention whatsoever of eating it, when James says something like "This is called.....(I don't even remember)and it's what you all are feeding the people in Nigeria that you raised money for. It's a mixture of refried beans, corn meal, and milk, and it's for people who are malnourished. Eat up, because this is all you are getting."
People all around me are at least trying this stuff and I just sit there. I know that I don't need to eat this because in just half an hour, I'll be home and I can eat regular food. So, I throw it away. A whole bowl of food, in the garbage. Kids in Nigeria would see this as a feast, their first meal in a long, long time. They would eat it and it would be the best meal they had ever had. And what do I see? I see a gross, unedible, glop, that won't come out of the bowl when I turn it upside-down. I see it as something not good enough for me.
And yet, this is what I'm more than willing to give to somebody who's dying in Africa. At first, I tried to justify this by thinking to myself, "Well, they're hungry." but I knew that I was hungry too. It's just that I knew that, because I was born into a family with enough money, I would go home and eat my rice-a-roni and go to bed with a full stomach. The people who I was raising money for don't have that option.
So, I threw away a meal. And it's tearing me apart right now.
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4 comments:
I'm sry chels. I don't know what I would do. Just pray. I guess. I dunno that's really hard. I think the same thing would have happened to me if I threw it away.
that sucks. i'm sorry. i wish there was something i could do, but bri is right. just pray about it. everything will be okay in the end.
Hey Chelsea -
I know I am a pansy but I am actually tearing up just reading this.
I love to see your passion and see that it's not just a show - you really feel for people. You care about others, when your world is full of people who really only care for themselves.
Because of this - God will use you in ways that seem impossible to others. I am so thankful to be able to watch your adventure with God.
The Pansy,
James <><
whos a pancy?
yeah tough break.
um try not live in the past too much, what done is done, an if u could go back to that day u would eat a 1000 bowels of that, but seriously God doesnt want u to dwell in your self pitty, wen u realise u dont care and neither do they.
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