Grain of Rice Principle

Okay, so I'm sure you've all heard of this already - the grain of rice thing. If someone gives just one grain of rice, it's not enough to feed anyone, but if large numbers of people each give a grain, then we can make some dinner (or at least a side dish). Now obviously there's a deeper meaning to this principle than just rice... we're talking about money, of course! I remember thinking through this one day, how if all the students at CBU (my alma mater) would give just $1 each month, they could sponsor 100 kids through Compassion or a similar program. If all the churches in the U.S. would do the same, - heck, even just the churches in Riverside - we could start to seriously address the issues of poverty and hunger in the world!

This is all on my mind because a good friend of mine, who is getting married this Saturday, asked that in lieu of a gift for the wedding, for people to sponsor a child through Compassion. David and I have been sponsoring a little boy in Ethiopia since 2004 (Nahom), and decided to pick a little girl from Ethiopia as our gift for Rose & Aaron's wedding. I'm very excited about it - have a whole wall and shelf at my house set up to display "our kids'" pictures and to remind us to pray for Africa, Ethiopia in particular. We picked a little girl, 7 years old, named Kalkidan who loves music (plays an instrument and loves to sing), since music is such a big part of our lives. I think sponsoring a child in this way is great thing to do, not only for David and I, but for our kids to be a part of as they grow up.

Now, to bring this principle down to home, I'm thinking it'd be a great thing if everyone I knew would give me just a couple bucks a month...