Out My Front Door

When I understood what the 40 Day Fast was all about, I felt compelled to write a little about Blessings in a Backpack, a stateside organization that helps to meet the nutritional needs of children on the weekends. If you aren't familiar with the 40 Day Fast please visit the website here, and follow the fast. Kelly is on team 2 today, so check out her post too!

I walk out my front door every day without much more than a glance up at my middle class neighborhood, I quickly scan to see whose cars have left for the day, the neat manicured lawns, and I, in dismay frown at my own lawn that is in desperate need of attention. Normally I don't give much thought to any thing other than what I need to do, or what I am doing that moment, let alone thinking about what goes on behind the doors of the folks that live on my street. Occasionally I here that this house or that house is getting sold, the lady next door lost her husband 2 years ago, and the lady next to her takes care of her diabetic veteran husband, and oh, and that family 4 or 5 doors down, well, they are trying to stay out of foreclosure. But hunger? No, I don't think so. A year ago I would have laughed out (very) loud(ly), should you tell me that at the elementary school in our zoned district had 40 % of it's students basically going hungry on the weekend. No, I don't think of hunger here in my neighborhood. And to be honest, even now that I know this info, I still don't think about it. Do you? But I should, and with that large of a percentage of children living without much food on the weekends, chances are, I don't have to go very far out my front door to find one of these kids.

I am extremely blessed, and have had the priviledge to have visited approximately 10 countries, before I turned 18. Several summers of missions opportunities in my teenage years gave me this rare experience. I have been to some of the richest countries in the world, and I have been to some of the poorest areas of the world. I have seen the issues of 3rd world hunger, contaminated water and even bodies just laying decomposing on the side of a dry dirt road first hand. Most of the time the mission work was in a in a "work" capacity. While evangelism is extremely important, it hasn't really been a strength for me, at least in the traditional EE sort of way. God has gifted many people in that area, but for me personally, He [God] has always laid on my heart to "meet people where they are at". If that is building a well, or building the walls of a drug rehabilitation center, or even a simple home for an young African man in Kenya to bring his bride to as he serves as headmaster for a school in a remote area. As I graduated highschool, this is where I felt called...to missions work...in the "Go to Africa...kind of Missions work..."

Well, God works in mysterious ways and I never became a missionary in that sense, but what I have realized more and more over the past several years, is that Every Believer has a mission. Every believer is "Called". Called to meet people where they are at...meet the needs of the fatherless, widows, the elderly, the poor, and the hungry. Where am I at? Well, as a stay at home mom of 3 small kids, I am many times At My Front Door.

Right now, if you'll observe my blog a bit, I am literally At or Out (if we are outside playng) My Front Door...my mission is mainly to my children. I'm a stay at home, home schooling Hip Mama (is that even possible?), and because of that I've started to be more aware of local organizations and opportunities to serve in my own community. Something my husband and I discussed when we started home schooling this year, is looking at where we as a family can "serve" others. How can we show our children how to meet people where they are at? How to show God's love to others? How will our children learn compassion for those less fortunate? How do we show our children how very blessed we are that we have so much. How do we instill in them (and us too) the desire to serve? We hope to do this through local venues, giving our kiddos a very physical, "hands on" tangible experience of meeting someone else's needs.

Our church also happened to undergo a transformation of sorts this year: rather than trying to get new people in...and constant focus on "growing" the church, they have begun to focus more on Serving Others and Outreach both locally and abroad. My husband and I had the opportunity to serve with a ministry called Blessings in a Backpack. Our church partnered with Blessings in a Backpack by supporting the students of 1 elementary school in our city, by helping to meet their weekend nutritional needs for the school year.

My family and I are by no means wealthy (laughable in fact), however, we do happen to live in one of the most affluent cities in the U.S., so I was shocked to find out that over 60% of the students in the Elementarty School our church supported this year, eat very little for dinner (if any at all) and it's the same story for them on the weekends. The elementary school around the corner (the one my children would attend) have 40% of the students in the same boat! I just couldn't believe it. The school provides these students with lunch during the week through the Federal Lunch program, but on weekends and holidays, these students are going hungry. To find out more about our nations child hunger statistics click here.

Blessings in a Backpack is designed to meet these children's nutritional needs. Every week for the entire school year volunteers get together for the primary purpose of packing backpacks with non-perishable food, and many of these volunteers, at least in our church community, pray for the child that recieves the backpack that they are packing. During our volunteer time it took our group about 20-30 minutes to pack almost 200 backpacks...and quite honestly, we should have been more available to this part of the "mission" earlier on in the year. It was such a small task, but we know for sure the difference it is making in the lives of these precious children. And honestly, what better way to share God's love, than to first meet one of his/her basic needs?

Blessings in a Backpack is currently serving in 10 cities in the US, and plans on adding about 5 more in the next year. You can GET INVOLVED by supporting Blessings in a Backpack by:

• Giving-- $75 dollars supports 1 child for an entire school year!
• Raising Awarness
• Doing a Food Drive
• Establish a Blessings in a Backpack program in your own community.

I think one of the coolest parts of this program for us, was finding out at the end of the year that kids were so thankful! Teachers and faculty saw tangible evidence that the Backpacks were really making a difference in the student's schoolwork. The principal attended one our church services a few weeks ago. He told us that they saw the fruit of the Backpacks was that the children's test scores, reading levels and attention spans had improved....now I couldn't find much about that on the website, however, He believed the Backpacks had a direct effect on their progress. Our pastor made the comment, that he wasn't sure if it was the food, or the prayers that really made the impact! What a testimony to the students, parents, and faculty that a local church is not just concerned with themselves, or one our "more chalk mark on God's blackboard," but we are also concerned for the physical welfare of others...giving us a greater opportunity to serve their spiritual welfare as well.

Now that my kids are a little older, this is one of the areas of service we'd like to do together in the next year. My kids can put granola bars and canned goods in a backpack! My kids can pray for other kids their age...and what a testimony, not just to the children and community that we serve, but to the hearts of our own children as we raise them to be compassionate servant leaders serving the Lord in whatever they do as adults! Sometimes we think we can't make a difference in this fallen world, or we look so far ahead or always to the 3rd world, when just under our noses God has given us opportunities! I look back at the times when I have either missed or ignored God's call. Usually my excuse is busyness...or selfishness. Certainly, God calls many of us to support and/or go to a foreign mission or cause, but I will be fasting and praying today that I don't forget to look a little closer to home too, just out my front door.

To find out more about US Child hunger and Blessings in a Backpack....see the video and website below

http://www.blessingsinabackpack.com/

As we fast, I challenge each of you, even as God challenges me, look around. Let us ask God where we can serve in our local community. It may be through Blessings in a Backpack, or foster care, volunteering at a local homeless shelter, or whatever...it may be as simple as teaching the local neighborhood kid how to skateboard when you are outside playing with your kids...you never know what kind of an impact you have right out your front door!