We could feed the whole world with the crumbs from our bread

It was twenty-six degrees last night and most of us were warm beneath the blankets in our bed. Some of our biggest worries as our head hit the pillow came from a txt or some other form of cowardly drama. Most of us slept well. Our stomachs were full from not one, but several meals we ingested yesterday and most in excess. We were full. We woke this morning and showered using enough water to sustain a family in Africa for a week and we were upset if it wasn’t hot enough. We left the shower and headed to the closet or dresser where some stressed over not having enough to wear… while in reality most of our closets could clothe several families who have nothing. That’s where my part of the story picks up. I was standing there looking at clothes and began to be broken. In one moment I realized how selfish and materialistic I am… It really started a few weeks ago though when I was standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes and became disgusted with myself when I thought that some kid in Africa would love to drink my dirty dishwater because it wouldn’t kill them. It’s these two experiences that have begun to shape my mind in a new direction, but there are a few many people who have brought me to this place.

Craige, you slept in an old train car last night downtown with no heater. You have made getting out of bed every Wednesday at 4 something worth it. This morning was the first morning you didn’t start the fire in…… well, no one knows how long. Some of the guys were worried. Frank assured us that the “professor is fine”. Hope to see you next Wed.

Mema, for giving your food away or not eating until you are certain that everyone else is full. For doing without so much so you could give to so many.

Dud, for taking a pair of gloves off your hands in 20 degree weather and giving them to someone you don’t know, not because you had to, but just so he would be warm.

The 5,000 kids that die every day from unsanitized water. That’s 2 million a year.

The 192 (not counting the two homeless shelters, hospitals, jails, and rehab) homeless people in Albany that face insurmountable odds everyday and keep going.



I sometimes want to be sad when I hang out with my friends downtown, but I am realizing they have so much and I have so little. I take everything for granted. Including God. Just like I stand beneath the flood of clean water every morning. I also stand in the presence of a holy God who desires a relationship, a oneness with me. I am overwhelmed by His goodness and drink it in, but soon leave His presence drawn away with the desire for more stuff. I pray that one day we choke on our excess and vomit it up so that we see how completely depraved we really are and how glorious Christ really is. He has given everything to us. Some He has given some much and to some little, but you have to remember He is the One that said the last will be first, that being weak is being strong, and that if we truly die we can fully live. My hope today in sharing my heart is that you will hear the voice of God breaking through your stuff and reminding you that there is much more. That in Him is fullness of joy and peace that overcomes every conflict. There is rest for the weary and hope for the beaten down. Today, right this minute there is forgiveness of sin and restoration for the soul. I pray that some of us would become poor in His presence so we could know the splendor of being rich in Him, that some of us would thirst today with a desire for Him to quench it and for hunger pains to grip our soul for more, more of the all-satisfying, completely sufficient Christ.

Would you say your full today? Or have you been blinded by so much stuff?
Proverbs 27:7