Just one can make a difference

Yesterday, Pastor Julius invited Jason, Nathan and I to go to the Payatas garbage dumpsite to be part of the feeding program that was going on. Although I have become accustomed to seeing makeshift homes made of random materials pieced together to create not just shelter, but a home for families to live, it still isn’t easy to see. And this time, the huge mountain of garbage loomed behind the homes, a place where mother, father, and child go to dig through trash trying to find something to sell or recycle to earn enough money to buy food. The smell was overpowering, and the flies were everywhere. It’s worse, they said, during the rainy season. But I think the thing that I was struck by this day, as we helped serve food and took pictures of smiling kids was the story behind the Matthew Project, as the feeding program is called. For eight years now, one woman we met and others who have come along at different times, kids have been fed one good meal five days a week. It started with 50 kids, now there are over 1200 kids in several different locations. It all started because one man and his family had a vision to start this program and use the money from their business to fund it. I think that is what was most encouraging to me. That one person using the resources God gave him to help those in need could make such a difference. Isn’t that always the question—what can one person do when the need is so great? Well, enough to help a thousand kids get food in their stomachs. Instead of seeing the problem as too great to do anything, I want to use whatever resources God has given me to make as big or as small a difference as I am able.