Fighting Hunger, Giving Hope

 I volunteered at a food bank this past weekend. I like the idea that people are working together to meet a need in this city. Their motto is, "Fighting hunger. Giving hope." Before we began our volunteer work, they showed us a video introducing us to the problem of hunger in LA and what the food bank is doing about it. Honestly, I didn't know much about it going into it, but I was there to learn. One thing that struck me was watching the interview of a little girl sharing about how she didn't have a snack to bring to school, and therefore, she would just drink water until her stomach was full. They also mentioned how public schools are working together to provide free breakfast and lunches for students of low-income families. And when I heard this, it hit me--something I never realized before--my family was once one of those families.

There was a time when my older brother, Peter, could buy school lunches for just a dime. This was when my older brother moved on from our K-8 private school to our local public high school. (At the time, my younger sibs and I were still in private school.) I wondered why Peter could buy lunches for so cheap, and my parents explained that they qualified for a program that let him do so. I had no idea it was because we had little money. I mean, 3 of us were still getting private school education, for goodness sake! But I'm guessing that tuition money was borrowed, probably from relatives.

That moment was very humbling--realizing my family was once a recipient of the collective efforts to fight childhood hunger. I don't know about you, but whenever I volunteer, I have this mentality of, "I'm gonna be a do-gooder and help someone less fortunate than me." There's so much pride hidden beneath those good intentions. Maybe I think I'm better than them because I don't have that problem of hunger, or homelessness, or domestic violence...or whatever need/issue we're currently fighting against. I think Jesus did it best when He came to earth. He had no needs (a man perfect in himself) and yet we are seeped in it. But Jesus didn't have this hoity-toity attitude of "Oh you poor things! You're lucky I'm here to help you." But He considered himself low, a servant. That is amazing. I need to take on that attitude.

I Feel Like I Believe in Martians

I love love LOVE Donald Miller. Not only is he hilarious and refreshingly honest, I like how he thinks very deeply about God and life. I want to be his friend and have meaningful conversations with him all the time.

In this short interview, he says,

As a Christian, as someone who believes in Jesus and believes the Bible is the word of God, there are times that I wake up and say, "This is crazy! This is crazy that I believe in this. I feel like I believe in Martians!"

When I heard him say this, I was like, OMG YES. That's exactly how I feel about my faith. In my mind, it is the most bizarre thing ever, and yet, there is something within me that causes me to believe. I don't think I'll ever get over it.