Have You Ever Really Been Hungry?

According to 2010 statistics it was reported that the number of malnourished people in the world exceeded 1 billion people, about a sixth of the world’s total population. Six million children die of starvation every year. Approximately every 6 seconds one kid dies of hunger. According to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations there were 925 million undernourished people in the world in 2010.

October is World Hunger Month. Ever since I can remember my home church has taken up an offering for world hunger. My first memories of this are of an elderly member of our church, almost one-hundred-year old Odessa Luffman. Rising from her seat on the first Sunday of October she would slowly walk to the front of the church and make her plea for funds to feed the poor and hungry. Odessa?s never ceasing love for people instilled in me a longing to help others. This gentlewoman now lies in a Hospice bed but the memory of her and her dedication to the Lord and His people will live on eternally through those of us who strive to carry on her good work.

Have I ever been hungry? Oh, I might think so, but real hunger is something that I will more than likely never experience. After prepping for a recent colonoscopy I went without solid food for 32 hours. The stuff I had to drink made me sick and I couldn?t even keep down Jello, so yes I was hungry. But not the kind of hunger that delivers death

I beg of you to open your eyes to the needs around you. The hungry are not just in foreign lands. They are right under our nose. In 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States.

You may ask. What can I do? First you have to really care. Think about your blessings and then hold your hand out and share. I dare to say that almost every town has a food bank, a place for a single mother to go and find food for her children. Or an elderly person to supplement their cabinets because their medication bills have drained their bank accounts. Contribute to your local church. Most participate in the World Hunger Month project that sends funds to local and worldwide mission efforts to feed the hungry.

There really is no excuse not to help. The world already produces enough food to feed everyone ? 6 billion people ? and could feed double ? 12 billion people. So the food is there. All that?s lacking are the hands to serve it.

An excerpt from ?The Color of My Heart.?

Lucia
Today the ship stopped sailing. I can still hear the slapping of the ocean weight on her sides. But now, instead of the boat traveling along with the current, the water finds resistance against the ship?s motionless sides. The mast creaks as like an old lady?s joints. Grinding? bone against bone, splinter against splinter.

It is now morning. I can see light through the cracks in the dungeon?s ceiling. We have been pulled up since late yesterday. Zessia sleeps with her head in my lap. She has fared well on the journey, for I have shared my food with her as most of the other mommas have done. Some have died; lots are sick and malnourished. Others like me are skinny but well. The sickness of our bodies can be healed, but some have developed a disease of the spirit that I fear will never mend. There is much noise coming from up above. The ship?s workers have our men on deck. I can hear the weight of them as they stumble about.

The guards say we are at a place called Jekyll Island in the state of Georgia, United States of America. My mind goes back to the round ball Mr. Jonathan called a globe. I not only feel thousands of miles from my Roland? I know that I am! I close my eyes so I can see him. I need him near, for I know our lives are about to be changed forever.

Tagged as: "The Color Of My Heart", October is World Hunger Month, Odessa Luffman, world hunger