The Circle of Hope
This week the blog is sponsored by Children’s Hunger Fund (CHF), a nonprofit seeking to “deliver hope to suffering children by equipping local churches for gospel-centered mercy ministry.” Serving in the United States and 29 other countries, CHF seeks to help the local church reach suffering children and families in their communities with both physical help and spiritual hope found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Lupe Gomez distinctly remembers what it was like to receive the gift of food as a kid.
One of eight siblings, growing up in the ‘80s, Lupe told us a story about when his elementary school had a food drive.
He remembers telling his mom about it and asking her if he could take a can of corn or beans to the food drive.
“She opened the cupboard, and there wasn’t much in there,” Lupe shared. “But she gave me a can of corn.”
Caption: Lupe and Julie Gomez at Children’s Hunger Fund
Lupe took that can of corn to his school for the food drive and gave it away to children in need.
“A week later, this big truck comes to my house with food for us,” Lupe shared. “I gave a can and I got boxes of food. It just came right back to me, and it was just amazing, but I don’t know what happened.”
Now, almost 40 years later, Lupe understands why he received those boxes of food. Even though Children’s Hunger Fund wasn’t the one that provided it, that generous gift motivates him to volunteer at CHF almost every week.
“I volunteer two hours at a time, but I could be here for three days. It feels amazing and it just makes you want to get involved more,” Lupe said.
Lupe volunteers with his wife, Julie, and they enjoy filling the boxes of food called Food Paks that will be delivered into the hands of suffering children by a pastor or church volunteer.
“I feel a sense of peace knowing that what we are doing is special and I tell everyone about it,” Julie said. “Everyone is just so welcoming, loving, and caring!”
Reflecting on the gift of food he had received as a kid, Lupe shared: “Hope—it’s everything.”
Even though he didn’t understand where that gift of food first came from, now, looking back, he understands. “The heavenly Father was looking out for us.”
About 30 miles away, on a warm afternoon in June, two small children sit enjoying some applesauce. The snack came from a Food Pak delivered that morning by a volunteer from a local church.
Sitting around a small table, Araceli converses in broken Spanish with the volunteer.
Araceli is one of many immigrants from Michoacán, Mexico who have settled in rural Fillmore, California. Like others in her community, Araceli speaks Tarasco, a dialect spoken by the people of Michoacán. Tarasco is classified as a language isolate, unrelated to any other known languages, including Spanish. Because of this, Araceli has difficulty communicating with anyone outside of her small community.
Caption: Araceli and her son with a Food Pak from Children’s Hunger Fund
Communication is even difficult with her own children. Attending school in the US for several years, Araceli’s two teenage daughters speak English and have little interest in speaking their mother’s native dialect. Because of this, Araceli has lost a lot of her authority over her children, simply because they cannot communicate. Her three-year-old son and her two-year-old granddaughter speak Tarasco, but both will be learning English when they begin school in a few years.
Prior to the pandemic, Araceli was invited to a women’s Bible study at Sembradores Church. Through this relationship with her local church and the home deliveries of food, Araceli has heard the gospel message and made a declaration of faith.
Recognizing the need in Fillmore for someone who speaks Tarasco, Pastor José Luis Paz of Sembradores Church has made it his mission to identify someone in the community who will be able to bridge the communication gap between the church and the Tarascan community in Fillmore.
If it weren’t for the faithfulness of volunteers like Lupe and Julia and church volunteers and pastors like the ones visiting Araceli, the ministry of CHF would not work. God is using His people all over the world to bring healing and hope to children and families who are suffering, and we are so thankful that He allows us to help provide the resources to make that ministry possible.
There are so many ways you can get involved with CHF and help further the mission to deliver hope to suffering children. Find out more here!
Make sure you sign up for our email newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up to date with the amazing things God is doing in the lives of suffering children.
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A La Carte (March 19)
The God of peace be with you today.
(Yesterday on the blog: Always Look for the Light)Casey asks some important questions in his article. It begins like this: “It was the first and only time I’ve ever been called to perform an exorcism. It wasn’t a person that was possessed, the frantic lady on the phone informed me, it was her house. It had not one but two spirits. She had already tried a medium, a Catholic priest, and the strategic placement of crosses. You know you’re desperate when your last best hope is a Baptist pastor.”
This article considers the way the little word “should” can become such a poison.
I tend to agree with Barbara that in heaven we will understand more than we do now about God’s acts of providence, but not necessarily everything we’d like to know. “I don’t know if we’ll understand everything that God did and allowed while we were on earth. Because He will still be God and we still won’t be. He is omniscient, and we will never be.”
What a sweet bit of writing. “We come from unique backgrounds and paths of life as diverse as the potluck table: chile rellenos and chow mein sidled next to green bean casserole. We are white and colored, Asian and other, a mottled crew from nursery to our nineties. We vote on different ballots and think in different ways. Surely strangers who engage in such an intimate act of worship have no business with one another this side of glory as we learn again to be the church.”
This excellent article looks carefully at what’s true and what’s false, what’s orthodox and what’s heretical.
That’s a good line that counters something so common in society (and even in the church): truthful thinking is greater than positive thinking. “I regularly meet people who promote a worldview of positive thinking. In fact, there are religions and schools of thought that major in it. Such belief systems claim, to a greater or lesser degree, that positive thinking saves people from sin, grief, pain, brokenness, and even eternal damnation in hell. They’re attractive because they give us a sense of control. And in an age of chaos, a little control feels comforting.”
This “village” is not there just to keep them in line when they get unruly, but to experience the joy of seeing them grow up in God and grow up for God.
Faith does not pretend that a situation is not painful or scary. What faith does do is take our problem to the One who really cares and can do something about it.
—Matthew Mitchell -
Weekend A La Carte (January 14)
My thanks goes to Reformed Free Publishing Association for sponsoring the blog this week to tell you about their children’s magazine, Ignited by the Word.
There is quite a good collection in today’s Kindle deals. I have it on good authority that we will see plenty of good deals next week.
Westminster Books has a deal on a neat new family devotional.
(Yesterday on the blog: And Then There Was One)
The Chosen and The Word
This article is worth reading and considering. “As I gazed at the smiling, gentle face of Jonathan Roumie, I felt uneasy. This actor who portrays Jesus in ‘The Chosen’ was different to any other Jesus actor I had ever encountered. He had the right skin colour for a start. But more than that, his face somehow simultaneously conveyed a strength and kindness that attracted and drew me in. I felt the need to remind myself that he wasn’t Jesus, and that thought gave me pause.”
The Ultimate Balanced Guide to Arminianism (from a Calvinist)
This is a kind and clarifying explanation of Arminianism.
A Family Vacation, a Broken Transmission, and a God Who Is with Us
I always enjoy reading stories like this one. “Recently, I said these words to my wife as we began to panic about twenty-five miles north of Jackson, Wyoming: ‘God is with us. He will help us and provide for us. This is no surprise to him. We need only to be faithful and not lose heart.’”
I Was Preaching to My Twitter Feed
“I noticed the problem when my joke didn’t land. I thought it was a witty take on a major cultural issue, but no one had any idea what I was talking about. My wife, who usually laughs politely at my humor, stared blankly. I was astonished, because this issue was all anyone had talked about for days . . . on Twitter. That was the problem.”
Don’t Women Need Access to Abortion for Rape?
“You don’t have the right to tell my fourteen-year-old daughter she has to carry her rapist’s baby.” Andy Naselli considers this common argument for the right to abortion. (See also: An Open Letter to a Young Woman Contemplating an Abortion)
Being Made New
“In His hands, our worst sins, pains, and sorrows are re-woven into a new and glorious creation. Every broken relationship, illness, tear, and sin is bound together in God’s redemptive way and made beautiful in Christ.”
Flashback: The Easiest Sin to Justify
When it comes to the sin of anger, we can always find an explanation that exists outside of us. We can always dump this sin in the lap of a husband or wife, a child or stranger. Failing that, we can plead fatigue or hormones or waking up on the wrong side of the bed or something—anything!—else.You will never be smarter than God, your plan for your life will never be better than God’s plan for you, what you want for you will never be better than what your Savior has died to give you. —Paul David Tripp
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A La Carte (April 7)
Grace and peace to you today.
(Yesterday on the blog: The Joy of Forgetting What You Need To Remember)
An Open Letter to the Christian Disheartened by Ongoing Temptation
You may appreciate this letter from D.A. Carson and John Woodbridge.
What Exactly Does 1 Timothy 2:12 Teach?
“Applying 1 Timothy 2:12 in the local church setting is tricky: ‘I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.’ What exactly does Paul not permit?” Robert Yarbrough offers a response to the question.
How To Turn A Clique Inside Out
“Cliques. They’re awful, aren’t they? We love to hate them (probably because we feel like they hate us). They’re easy targets for our criticism, all selfish and exclusive and proud, and who do they think they are treating other people like they don’t matter and barely exist at all? Cliques are bad. That is, until we’re in them.”
Sinclair Ferguson: Live at 7:30 p.m. EST
Sinclair Ferguson will be live with Ligonier Ministries this evening at 7:30 PM. He’ll be answering biblical and theological questions submitted live.
Fighting Flat
“Part of our challenge as preachers is to fight flatness in our preaching. This could be in terms of delivery, structure, or content. Perhaps you would add more areas too.” This article may help preachers understand and combat “flatness.”
Triggers and Tender Mercies
I’ve been blessed to read Donna Evans’ blog as she grieves the loss of her son James Bruce. In this article she writes about triggers that catch her off guard.
Flashback: The Best Tool for the Job
…the danger of thriftiness is that it can easily tip into stinginess. (Of course, in the same way, free spending can tip into a profligacy.) We can elevate the joy of finding an item at a low cost, while overlooking that this low cost may necessitate low quality.Our perverse mistake is that we demand that God shall explain Himself at every step, instead of waiting for Him to unfold His intricate purposes at His own time and in His own way. —Theodore Cuyler
