One thing that came to mind as I was reading what you wrote is that God showed us twice how he can feed many people with what seems like a totally inadequate amount of food.

Even though we might have to send send less money than we think we need, we can cover it in prayer and believe God will multiply it like he did the bread and fish.

This blog post has a great discussion in the comment section about whether it is “better to give a family gift or to give to the Global Food Crisis fund.”

I know each of the families have many children with so many mouths to feed. But is it better to give a family gift or to give to the Global food crisis fund?

I keep thinking of the man who needed the cart to create a better income for his family. But how do I choose? Any thoughts????

We follow the example of Jesus the best we can and then, when we can do little else, we rely on Him to bring in the crop.

Of course we pray–before, during, and after making our choices; then in faith we must trust in the Provider of everything good.

We need not stress; we need not be sad; we just need to keep going. And what then if our decisions are wrong? We bring to memory all the times God was able to make good come out of bad and somehow still bless all those involved.

Now it has occurred to me (yes, I can be slow!) that this is part of the whole spiritual battle that is going on, all the time. And all it takes for the kingdom of darkness to prevail, for any length of time and to any degree, “is for good people to do nothing.”

Maybe I’ve been relying too much on my own ability to express, to urge, to plead, to explain…and too little on the Spirit of God to turn the tide and get people to let go of His money. Time for me to switch gears, to pray more and talk/write less.

The last figure that I heard the represented the cumulative amounts requested by the vast majority of our field-partner countries was around $16 million, but that was weeks ago. I’m guessing it’s around $20 million, by now. I’d also like to know whether we still have any countries *not* yet at the critical point.

I’ve had the same questions Lindy mentioned (#1). Does it help the projects if some of the children receive family gifts (which we hope will go for food the families who are seriously affected by the crisis)? If a family gift is sufficient to provide for the family for a month, does the project then apportion that family’s share to others?

It breaks my heart to see how unaware so many people are of the needs of our starving brothers and sisters around the world. Maybe if each of us does our best to raise awareness of the global food crisis within our own circle of influence, others will respond and step up to help.