reaching out

"Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter?when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" (Isaiah 58:7).

I was watching Jamie Oliver's latest cooking series - his Australian diary - about 2 weeks ago. It featured his live cooking show in Sydney and Melbourne as well as his fourth FIFTEEN restaurant set up by the FIFTEEN foundation. This foundation was established to help those less privileged (delinquents, former drug addicts, abuse victims, etc) to become chefs and start a new life altogether.

It brought tears to my eyes the compassion he had for the students who were in the programme. I was moved by the vision he had for people who were so battered and downtrodden by their own choices, circumstances that they needed a leg up from others in order to just stand on their own two feet. It would be a continuous programme where at least 15 a year would be impacted. After receiving training in basic cooking skills (for a chef), they would work in the FIFTEEN restaurant for up to a year, and then be hired by other restaurants. The transformation was amazing for many of them, and this concept has been successfully established in three other restaurants in England and two other countries.

Of course there would be those who fall by the wayside because of their lack of discipline, and the inability to pull themselves out of their situation for various reasons.

How do i reach out as he had done? He used his fame, his celebrity status, his resources, time, money(?), energy, skill to influence many people to see his vision and to become part of it. Obviously i don't have fame and celebrity status. But how do i use what i had been blessed with to help others in such a practical manner?

From the time i was twenty, i had wanted to impact lives - one at a time. So i had taken time to invest in individuals with the grace of God. And i'm still doing that today, and excited about the people that God had put in my care. So precious!

I've also been contributing a monthly sum to World Vision (see earlier blog dated 17 August 2007) - nothing to boast of... just to encourage those of you to start with this avenue if you have been thinking about helping but still have not done anything about it.

But there's a desire in me to reach out more... to touch more lives at a time, which i believe i am doing partially, through teaching the Word of God.

This desire, which has been growing, makes me want to reach out to those who need just a little in order to make it through, in order to survive, in order to live.

I just heard from a friend yesterday there are people who count it a blessing to have three meals a week - just rice with some vegetables. The church set aside resources to provide three meals a week for the poor in the village.

My prayer is that God will open my eyes to see the needs, and open the doors to give the opportunity to help. This desire is more than words can express... and i believe the Lord will give me the words soon to express the desire which is also given by Him, so that i can run with it.

^{Habukkuk 2:2-3
2} Then the LORD answered me and said:
“ Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.