Every 5 Seconds

Seven.  After reading Jen Hatmaker's book, SEVEN, An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess I approached my small group girls about doing the small group Bible Study by the same name.  I think most anyone who's reading this probably has heard much more than they care to about this book of craziness, so I won't go into detail about the whole deal.  If you want to  know more about it you can google it.  There's lots out there.

 Today we start Food week.  7 foods for 7 days.  Last night at small group we watched the video and I was stunned by what I heard.   I guess i was just expecting more mechanics and encouragement as Me Myself and I make this huge sacrifice of fasting.  I mean my heavenly stars above!!!! I'm giving up French Roast for this thing!!!  This is after we had just discussed Isaiah 58 and talked about how this is not about legalism and our focus should be on the heart and spirit of the fast, not all the food details! 

This is what I heard:  "Every 5 seconds a child dies from hunger"  That's pretty much it.  That's pretty much all I remember--every 5 seconds.  In the time it took to watch the video, 240 children died of hunger. While I slept in my king size bed still too full from taco salad, 5,760 babies starved literally to death.  While I put on my makeup this morning we lost another 120.  While i gobbled down my egg at breakfast, another 60.  In the time it took you to see my post , click on the link and read this far, another 3 or 4.  Children.  Babies.  Kids.  They died.  from being hungry.  How am I supposed to be okay with that?  How am i supposed to not be bothered that children are dying and I have food to throw away?  If I don't get another cotton pickin thing out of this ridiculous study, then it has been worth my time. 

How many times have i thought, "God, why am i so blessed and why do you let people go hungry?"  He is asking me the same question.  "Marla, how can you let babies die of hunger?"  Every 5 seconds.
to quote my daughter, "I can't Un-know this!!"   Every 5 seconds. 

There is one other thing I heard last night. www.kiva.org I went to the site, read a little more about this concept of microlending and made an insignificant loan to a woman in the Philippines who is trying to feed her family through her little sari-sari store.  She will repay this loan (there's a 98.85% repay rate!!!) and then I can choose to take my loan back or reinvest it in another family in poverty.  What an awesome concept!   This gives me just a little ray of sunshine.  But I guess in all honesty, it helps me feel better about what I'm fixin to eat for lunch and the children who will not make it through today. 

every 5 seconds...

what do you know...i guess i did rant against injustice.