Fool Resistant

Just got an email from church with the subject "Need immediate help."

"[Church member]'s friend [name removed] is single-handedly bringing 12 orphans out of Haiti tonight. (Wednesday, January 20, 2010) They are coming with only the clothes on their backs."

TWELVE. CHILDREN.

I just can't even imagine. I have to run by church tomorrow morning with some money for them. I'm just torn between "Poor kids!" and "I'm so glad we could do SOMETHING."

Haven't got much this year; I'm severely lacking in time to pray and study alone.

And when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, (bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.

Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"

Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away...

---

If you look at this one way, it's the behavior of people who were following the Messiah, the son of God, and who just had Him taken away despite all their expectations. It's the behavior of people who, rather than feeling that God is with them and watching them, are grieving because He's not, and still doing their best.

And if you look at it another way-- it's the first tiny glimmerings of the stars in the sky, after the setting of the sun.

A couple of links, to start off with:

The Mennonites have a cookbook about eating locally and in season, and a study guide to turn it into a food-and-faith workshop.

Angel Food Ministries is an organization that buys food cheaply and re-distributes it all over the nation, selling a box worth about $60 retail for $30 or so. There are two big differences between AFM and most food resources, though: first, they don't require any kind of need statement or proof of need. Second, the boxes they provide are "balanced" meals-- meaning there are large amounts of actual protein in them. Check out the current month's distribution list to see what's available. A few of my co-workers have had boxes from them and say the food is fresh and tasty.

I'm now thinking about our church and whether we could buy a few of these boxes for our neighbors who come for benevolence, at least to the ones who come during the week they're distributed (AFM only provides once a month). I think this would be an awesome way to supplement the shelf-stable stuff we have to offer already. I should talk to the Benevolence folks at church and see if we have any freezer/fridge space we can use there, and whether we could squeeze some money out of the budget if needed.

Other plots roaming through my fevered little brain currently include possibly starting a community garden on church land (now would be the time!) and having a get-together on a Wednesday night to prep and can vegetables or fruits as the summer progresses.

I got the cat food and the cat litter and some watermelon jelly beans.

I went to church and sang along, and there were rockin' loud guitars to cover my singing. (I'm not that terrible except that I don't know all these songs and don't know the tunes and have to fake with enthusiasm what really should be done with knowledge.)

And I went to Bible class and the elder teaching it is pretty good, and funny, and had a cartoon about a cat as part of the PowerPoint, and we're talking about the book of Acts which was written by Luke, and the elder has a degree in pharmacy so it promises to be rockin' on that account too. (For those of you unfamiliar, Luke was a doctor.) It's a multi week class thing so I am definitely going back next week.

And I met a lot of interesting people, most of whom were elders who make a point of introducing themselves to new people, and next week I can call them by name...

because, thank you God, they all wear NAMETAGS.

Whew!