The Blessing of A Famine

Usually when 27 middle and high schoolers gather at our church they would be asking 'where's the pizza?' However, on this occasion they were fully aware of the fact they would not be eating for some 30 hours. We gathered this past Sunday to take part in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine project. Each of them were nervous about not eating for thirty hours, yet they came with the anticipation of having fun and helping others in need. We did both.

Our time together consisted of a number of activities that included; prayer, bible reading, writing letters to missionaries, washing our feet, gathering food, feeding the homeless, building a cardboard hut village, and komodo dragon dodge ball. It was a blast.

The moment that moved me the most was our participation in the Sunday morning worship service. The young people sang a couple of music numbers. The first number was The Lord Reigns, but it was on the second number that I was moved to tears. As I led the group in singing Take My Life and Let It Be, I looked across the faces of each of them. Some were new members to our group others I have know for quite some time. I am not naive enough to think that they each were fully aware of what they were singing. Yet, the thought of them surrendering themselves to our Lord brought a special touch to my heart. I love them each and had been praying that the Lord would challenge them during this time and begin to use each of them in a special way. He fully answered my prayers.

You can check out more photos of our time together at our flickr account www.flickr.com/photos/saylakeland. Also, I will have a short highlight video of our time together posted soon.