A Punishable Crime

Yesterday I was flipping through the channels and a show about religious cults caught my eye... anything odd is right up my alley. It was a story about a little boy who had gone missing from one of these groups. His name was Samuel and when they discovered his body, all were horrified. This one year old had died of starvation. I sat and listened to the reactions of the police and locals..."heart-wrenching", "unbelievable", "so so sad", "who could do such a thing", "how did this happen", " I can't imagine what he went through", "He must have suffered", "his parents must pay". His parents had been told by a prophet in their group that they needed to do this...he could only have breastmilk...too bad his mother's milk dried up....he sucked and chewed on her breasts until they were bloody...but his parents didn't budge. Samuel died....a slow, hard, painful death. The outrage was understandable...the parents were put on trial for murder. Someone was going to pay for this child's suffering...as they should. This is an UNACCEPTABLE crime...my heart broke for Samuel...but than it began to break for ALL the others...more than 27,000 a day....WHO will be held accountable for them? What court will hold those trials and hand down sentences? Where is the anger and sadness for THEM? You may say... well it's different....is it really????? I don't think God is up in heaven wearing a black robe, madly swinging a gavel....but I think He's mad....I think He's heartbroken. Are we just blind to THOSE children because they live over THERE....or do we think it's THEIR fault? I think WE are guilty of withholding food from over a BILLION people everyday......sure we are.
I didn't quite finish my muffin this morning...I scraped the rest into the garbage.
I threw out 7 strawberries yesterday..they had gone bad because we hadn't got around to eating them.
My daughter poured half a cup of cranberry juice down the sink this morning.
Last week we threw away a whole bag of greenbeans because we waited to long to do something with them and they went bad.
I threw away some meat not to long ago...it had been in the FREEZER way to long.
I went to a meeting Monday night and didn't really like the freshly made, warm cinnamon roll... so part of it ended up in the garbage.
I know...some may think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill....or you may be trying to figure out how I could have gotten those 7 strawberries to Ethiopia or Myanmar....But I know that I'm GUILTY !!!!!...I think God's people are GUILTY.....I think God continues to burden my heart with this...and you have to keep reading about it...sorry :)

...For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink...Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty...He will answer...I assure you; whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either...
Matthew 25

That's Jesus talking folks...not me. We really can make a difference...each of us. I'm challenging myself...and you...tell me what you're gonna do....
I'm gonna put less on my plate...I can go back for seconds and eat leftovers...but that way I'm not scraping my plate into the trash.
I'm gonna buy fresh products in smaller amounts so it doesn't go bad before we get to eat it.
I'm giving more $$ to my church's Manna Ministry that helps feed those in need.
I'm getting on my knees for those who are hungry.
I'm talking to my daughter even more about this.
I'm purposing to learn more about Fair Trade.
I'm gonna keep talking about it until everyone runs screaming from by blog......
There are so many ways....I DO BELIEVE God holds us accountable.....

So thankful I've never felt the pain of hunger,
Kelly