Articles
Mud Cookies, Clay Pots, Ash, Shoe Leather, Rotten Meat, Pagpag, Grass, & Rats
Mud Cookies, Clay Pots, Ash, Shoe Leather, Rotten Meat, Pagpag, Grass, & Rats
That list appears to be completely random, but they all have one thing in common. Do you know what it is? They are things people eat in some of the poorest places of the world. Some of those “foods” are not even food! Some of those items have become so regular a dish that they have a name, “pagpag.” It makes you stop and reflect upon how truly blessed we are!
- Haitian mud cookies — is a mixture of a little butter and salt with dirt.
- Madagascar clay pots, ash, and shoe leather — grind clay pots to powder, mix with sauce; ash mixed with tree pulp; shoe leather — they make zebra hide shoes and eat the leftovers.
- Venezuelan rotten meat — needs little elaboration, they dig through the trash on the street.
- Philipine pagpag — leftover trash from anywhere they can find it, fry it again and eat.
- South Sudan grass — eating grass, and not like a salad! They eat handfuls of grass.
- Indian rats — catching rats along the street and eating them.
That’s hard for us to imagine. But please appreciate two significant truths we must consider:
- Look among our brethren here — even the poorest of us are not that hard-pressed!
- And we also have each other looking out for us. I have never worried about going hungry. If I was ever that destitute, I could easily call any one of my brethren and have a meal. What a blessing to be in God’s family!
- As desperate as those areas are for physical nourishment, that is nothing compared to the spiritual starvation that exist in our world.
- It is a horribly sad thing to see so many in our world literally starving to death. But just as real and far more eternally lethal is the spiritual lack in every area of the world.
This is not just a Sudan problem, nor a Madagascar problem. This is a world problem. There are people in Sulphur Springs who are going to bed hungry tonight. There are people in Cumby who are wrestling with emptiness today. People who can’t seem to find any substance to ingest and satisfy. What a pity to see in the world!
What should the people of God do?
Be aggressive. Aggressive for opportunities to serve. Imagine a commuting where people who are hungry are being fed. You offer them the buffet of basic necessities. In you, they find a source to feed the soul. A person of substance and quality, one they know they can approach to be fed. Please see the seriousness of that aspect of this discussion. We need to feed the soul.
Now to the less eternally significant: I know there are many out there seeking to take advantage of your generosity, but you don’t know if that’s always what’s being done. Read Matthew 25:31-46. There are people in truly horrible circumstances. God expects us to use what belongs to Him to do something about it! Seek opportunities to help.
You need to be on the hunt. There are people starving for substance and you know where to find a Table that never runs out! Second to that, you have a table that God has richly blessed, share in your abundance.
