The Pledge

 

"The longest journey starts with the first step..."

Years ago at our former church, we participated in an annual food drive. We usually did it in March, which coincided with the national food shelf month. As the years went on, our church became good at this - no, they became very good. We developed a recipe for success. Dozens upon dozens were involved, covering all ages. We would collect food from four different stores in the area during two weekends in March. Once food was collected, it was brought it back to church and sorted. We would sort it in a fashion the food shelf found the most useful. After the sorting was done, we would line up a caravan of cars, many pulling trailers, and head over to the food shelf with tons of much needed food.

A few years ago, the church split over doctrinal differences. It was a sad day for many. My wife and I ended up leaving the church. We would often look back in fondness for all the ministry opportunities we had while attending that church. By far and away, the one which meant the most to us was the annual food drive.

As we languished between churches, so did our involvement with the food shelf. We got out of the habit of giving. We would on occasion, but it was not a regular event. I would cover up our remiss by grumbling about the "good old days with the church's food drive". I would blame everyone and everything for the reason we did not have that massive food drive any longer. I was wrong, so wrong in doing so.

This year my wife and I joined an exciting new church. We also decided to get back into the game. We can't do as much as we used to at our former church, but we can do something. We took the pledge. Every week when we go to the grocery store, we are buying a $5 bag of food for donation. I know that does not sound like much, but it is a start. We are committed to do this all year. At the end of the year, we will have donated over 100 pounds of food by doing this way.

This does not mean that is it. We will continue to look for other ways to augment this giving. What we have learned from working with the food shelf in the past is this - the need is real and growing. We may disagree on the causes for the need, but trust me, it is real. If we can just put a small dent in that need with our weekly donation, that will be a good thing. Nobody, and I mean nobody, deserves to go to bed hungry in this country.