Be A Blessing

Tomorrow is the day. It’s Thanksgiving! For many of us thanksgiving is the day when we eat ourselves into a food coma and then go watch some football. Now, while there may be some truth to that, it means a lot more. As we sit and look at the mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, corn, yams, cranberry sauce, not to mention the pies – pumpkin, apple, sweet potato, chocolate cream – I pray we do not take it for granted. This kind of abundance is not the norm in most other countries in the world.

For instance, years ago, when I first took a mission team to Haiti, I was unprepared for what I witnessed. Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and the third poorest country in the world. The poverty that surrounded us while we were there was shocking. All around us we saw children with orange hair and swollen bellies, which I later learned was evidence of severe malnutrition. In fact, one out of five children in Haiti will die before reaching the age of five. Families were living in shacks made of discarded corrugated metal sheets, wooden pallets, and cinder blocks. They had no electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. Cooking is done over an open flame. Washing is done in the local river or stream. Disease is rampant. One of the most common diseases is malaria. They also battle widespread tuberculosis, and cholera. I remember working with a medical team while I was there and giving doses of what looked like bright red cough syrup to the children. I learned later that was a de-worming medication. Because of the sanitation challenges, 90% of Haitian children suffer from intestinal worms. These worms eat on average 20-40% of a child’s daily nutritional intake. This is a reason why there are such high rates of anemia, malnutrition, and even starvation. When we stopped to visit an orphanage one of our team members felt a tug on his hip. He looked around to discover that a child had squeezed his hand sanitizer gel that was hanging on his belt into his mouth because it was apple scented and he thought it was food. Our hearts broke. You see, in Haiti, there is no food stamp program. As there are no Medicaid, Medicare, or National Health Care programs, or Social Security.      

Another amazing experience was to see how joyful these people were. Praising God from whom all blessings flow. Sharing whatever they had with those in their community who had even less. It was very humbling. Perhaps even a bit embarrassing. I complained this summer because my air conditioning wasn’t working. Incredibly, these conditions are not exclusive to Haiti. The fact is three-quarters of people in the world live just like this. We genuinely have no clue. I mention this simply because I want us to understand how very blessed we all are and that we need to remember Jesus said in Luke 12:48, “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return.

Support your church’s outreach ministry or local food bank. Whenever we have the opportunity, whether it is in our own community or somewhere in the world, we should always remember to thank God for our blessings and then be a blessing to someone else.

-----------------------------------------------------   

Remember you can email praises and petitions to southchurchprayer@gmail.com. We lift them up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 4:00 pm on Facebook Live.