Oh, To Have a Heart Like a Child

Since I have been feeling so deeply lately the desire to be with the children my heart is broken for I came to a conclusion on Friday: Even though I can't be there with them now, I can be proactive in supporting them and those that are there right now holding, loving , and helping them, especially in the Horn of Africa where the famine is currently happening. So I got an idea and spent the day making the sign you see here.

I play my fiddle every Saturday down at the Puyallup farmers market, kind of like a little summer job. Its surprising how well you can do busking once you learn the ropes. I decided that I would make this sign and also a bucket with a similar message and pictures on it and play all day and donate all the money I make to an organization that is doing work with The Children suffering from the effects of the famine specifically.

I played from 9am-2pm Saturday and the response was great! I was able to bring in $290. As the sign reads, either 290 children will eat for a day, or three children will get to eat daily for the estimated rest of the famine.....about 100 days.

It was such a blessing to see so many people desireing to give and love these hurting children.

But I was also blown away by how many people would stop, read the sign, look at me oddly and walk away. I don't know their circumstances, but it was almost as if they were trying to ignore the reality of whats happening to so many children...1 of every 3 are starving and dying of malnutrition in Somalia. But....don't we all try to ignore all the hurt and suffering around us?

I pray one day I am like a little boy that I met yesterday while I was playing. He looked about 8 years old. He came and read the sign, just starring at it and then quickly ran over to who I suspect was his mom. She handed him some money and he came back and proceded to drop a $10 bill in my case, the largest bill I recieved the entire day, the rest $1, $5 and change. His mom came up and said to me "That was his lawn mowing job money." In much gratitude I said a very big Thank You to him. He had probably just given me all the money he had to his name as an 8 year old boy. With out second thinking it he gave all he had because The Children needed it more than he did. Oh, why arn't I like that?!

It reminds me of the story of the widow in Luke 21:1-4 "While Jesus was in the Temple, He watched the rish people dropping their gifts into the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. "I tell you the truth." Jesus said, "this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has."

That story is an amazing example of what it means to have a truly a giving and surrendered heart. That little boy was like the poor wodow, in that, he not only gave all he had, but among all the people that gave, most of them adults, he gave the most!

I pray that we all learn from the widow and this little boy what it means to give and invest in what is important and eternal rather than squandering our resources on pointless things.

What are we doing for these kids who are dying daily and may not know Jesus yet?

All of the money that was donated on Saturday is going to World Concern, 95 cents of very dollar ( the highest I could find) goes to help the kids suffering from the effects of the famine in Somalia.

Consider giving some of what you have been blessed with to them today!

~Ally-Jo