Feed My Starving Children

A few weeks ago my colleagues from UAB’s Office of Planning and Analysis, Judd, and I had the opportunity to package food to help feed starving children throughout the world.  The organization that facilitates and plans this effort is called Feed My Starving Children (FMSC).  The site where we volunteered was Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL.  Shades Mountain offered its Christian Life Center gymnasium as a site for the mobile meal packing session.

One of my colleagues, Mary Beth, mentioned the opportunity to participate to us.  The entire office eagerly agreed to volunteer.  She told us that Feed My Starving Children “is an organization that uses volunteers to pack dry ingredients in such a way that they can be distributed to areas where there is no food and provide several nutritious meals.  It is a fascinating project AND process that the Shades Mountain Baptist Church family loves being a part of.”

Here is a link that shows more of what FMSC is about.  http://www.fmsc.org/page.aspx?pid=232.”

This year Shades Mountain Baptist doubled its level of participation and attempted to package over half a million meals.  When the entire event was finished, Shades Mountain’s pastor announced that the FMSC goal had been exceeded and lots of great volunteers packed more than 545,000 meals over the several days of the MobilePack event.  That is enough meals to feed 1,494 children for a year!!!

I’ve included a brief video about Feed My Starving Children.

 

I didn’t have my good camera with me that day; however, I did manage to capture the moment using my iPhone.  After all, who would want to forget how we all looked in hairnets?  We all had a great time and look forward to helping with FMSC again next year.  Go FMSC!  Go Shades Mountain Baptist!  Go Office of Planning and Analysis!  Whoop-whoop.

If you would like to volunteer for a MobilePack event click on the link below to see when Feed My Starving Children will be in your area.

Link: Feed My Starving Children MobilePack Event Dates

Rest

How did you spend your weekend celebrating the resurrection? 

We spent ours in Judd’s hometown—Brewton, AL.  It is such a lovely place.  I’ve posted about it many times.  It is a small town where no one ever seems to be in a hurry (which is such a nice reprieve from my everyday life).  Maybe in actuality the locals do feel the same stresses that I feel at home.  But one thing is certain, I am not a native Brewtonian, so when I am there I leave my work, course load, professional and scholastic pressures, and every day stressors at home.

I don’t have any pictures to share for this post because I did not pick up my camera one time while we were there.  Instead, we rested.  It. Was. Nice.

We spent good quality time with Judd’s parents, brother, sister-in-law, and grandmother.  We went to the farm two days in a row.  We all worked on a few tasks; however, it was pleasurable work.  We worked with our hands to make a place that we love and share even better.  We played a little too.  Our time at the farm consisted of boat rides, fishing, sunbathing, watching the dog swim, alligator spotting, rattlesnake spotting and killing, porch swinging, four-wheeler riding, and work that involved firing up the old blue Ford tractor.

On Sunday morning Judd and I attended Easter worship service with his parents at their church.  It is a quaint rural church.  There were eleven people in the choir.  The simplicity of it all was refreshing to my soul.  The congregation does not have the same “amenities” that are found in our Birmingham church. 

They don’t have a state-of the-art sound system, or special lighting, or an orchestra, or a large screen and projector to display the scripture and the words to hymns.  Instead, they have a passionate pastor and a God-fearing congregation.  They sing from actual hymnals while Judd’s mother plays the piano and they read scripture by holding His Word in their own hands.  It’s a no frills way to worship and I LIKED it.  After all, worship, praise, and learning the Gospel are all we are supposed to be there for anyway.

On our drive home to Birmingham I reflected on our weekend and on our worship experience there.  It was a back to the basics time for us.  It was so refreshing to to really hear the sermon without audiovisual distractions, without having to worry about filling out the sermon outline, without having to listen to the pastor’s voice via lapel mic., and without having to squint to see the pastor from a balcony view.  Instead, it was an up close and personal experience.  I was hanging on every word.

I’m not knocking the high-tech outlets that larger churches use to reach their members.  Like I said, our home church has all of those things too.  It was just nice to have a reminder of what is really required to worship:  You and God.

Coincidently, this morning my cousin sent  me today’s Girlfriends in God e-newsletter sponsored by crosswalk.com.  It contained the following prayer.  I felt it was so appropriate for me.  Maybe it will be fitting for you as well.

“Father, forgive me for the arrogance that keeps me on the run, trying to prove my worth. Teach me how to rest in You, Lord. Help me learn how to say “no” to those things that keep me from sitting at Your feet. Give me a hunger and thirst for You that can only be satisfied by time alone with You. I love You, Lord.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.”

Prayer-Amy Goes to Haiti

This is my dear friend Amy.

She is one of the fab for those of you who have been around a while. She has a heart for missions and has traveled the globe serving the Lord. She is actually Dr. Amy. She graduated from Pharmacy School at Auburn a few years ago.

Amy sent the message below this morning. If you have a few moments this week please lift her up in prayer as she touches the lives of the people of Haiti.

(This is a picture from one of Amy's other mission trips. This was in Ghana)

Her message is below:

"Hi friends,

Please keep me in your prayers this week! I left yesterday to work with a medical clinic in Haiti for the week. I'm with a team of 7 nurses/doctors from Nashville working about 2 hrs outside the capital in a town called Petit Guave. It's one of the farthest points of the earthquake damage, near the epicenter of the second shock. The Nashville church I'm working with (Brentwood Baptist) has partnered with a local Haitian church to rebuild houses all summer (4 teams) and do a single week of ambulatory care clinic (our team). The conditions in Haiti are some of the most destitute I have ever seen, but it is not from lack of aid or western resources. It is from years of slavery and colonialism followed by poor infrastructure and western dependence. The extreme damage is more a result of poorly built homes (plastic or cement with no rebar) than the severity of the earthquake.

So how can I help? What difference can one week really make, especially with no way to ensure follow up or provide the next month's supply of medications? The only thing of lasting value will be sharing Christ's love, His hope, His ability to provide comfort and peace to broken people.

Pray that I will love boldly and speak words of truth and encouragement. The Haitian church has claimed Psalm 46 through this time: 'God is our refuge and strength, always a ready help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when the earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea...'

Love you all!

Amy"

She is a special friend who is doing something so great. Please take a few minutes to support her in prayer.

Amy in Africa

A very close friend of mine who is about to graduate from pharmacy school at Auburn University, Amy Pennington, is on a medical mission trip to Ghana, Africa. She is a true steward of Christ. I know she will bring so much to the people there. She is keeping a blog of her experiences. Please follow Amy as she touches and helps to save the lives of the people in Ghana. She is including prayer requests in her blog. It would be lovely if we could all join together in prayer for Amy, the other missionaries, and for the people they are attempting to reach everyday.

http://amykinafrica.blogspot.com/

Beautiful Christmas Music! Enjoy!

A colleague of mine forwarded the Casting Crowns Christmas album link to me this week. It will allow you to continuously play all of the songs on the album for free. It is such beautiful music. I thought it was so great that it needed to be shared. I hope you enjoy it too! MERRY CHRISTMAS! God bless you all! Thank you for being in our lives!

http://www.reunionrecords.com/castingcrowns/preview/

Scripture to Remember

I came across this scripture passage from Philippians the other day. It is something that Judd and I really need to remember.

We are so grateful to have the opportunity to live with my mom and dad while we look for a place of our own in Birmingham. Although, living in a household with 4 other adults has not been easy. This passage is one that we should think of often. We need to stay positive, thus having a positive influence on those around us. I hope the passage below will help you too. :)

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice." Philippians 4:8-9