Monday, March 08, 2004

Was the 30 Hour Famine really over a week ago? Where did the time go? That was a fantastic time, though I was worried and insane for the week before. I was so bummed that David couldn't be there for it. He was so instrumental in actually getting us to do it. I had wanted to do the Famine years ago, but I never got it off the ground. here we were, 15 kids, plus Jim and Kathy and me, and we rocked. The fact that we raised money for starving children ($935 so far) was awesome, then to find out that the government grant World Vision got raised the bar to a x4 multiplier... that means we raised $3740. Enough to feed 10 kids for a year. Did that come out clear enough? 10 kids for a year

There were several things that were impacting for me during the 30 Hour Famine:
1. The Longest Line: It was really something to watch 14 teenagers competing to put everything they brought together in lines and trying to have the longest line -- then with the kicker: after they had been instructed that they could put anything over $2 in value into the line... That all they had left (their clothes, sometimes even without shoes) was everything that most kids in the world even own. I've never seen teenagers "sober up" so quickly from playing games to learning. They got it.

2. IHN: Taking homeless kids to COSI was great, especially since we got to pair up 1-1. The lesson here was that there was no real difference between those kids and our kids. Except that those kids were homeless. They didn't look different from the other kids there. They didn't act different. They didn't do anything to deserve to be homeless.

3. The interactive country game: Specifically the part where there was no "correct" answer. The kids had to read a situation and choose the best possibility for the family or individual to follow. There was one, Zambia, I think, where the family was struck by AIDS. Anything they chose lead to death. That was impacting for me, though I don't think it hit the kids like it did me. That's why it's so important that we raised the money. We might have done something to make there be a "right" answer for them.

4. The Passion: I guess I don't have to say a lot; it was violent, it was difficult, I'm not planning on going back and seeing it multiple times, but the impact it had on the kids was profound. I remember in high school when Jesus' crucifixion became "real" to me; it was at church camp communion, and I remember thinking about what Jesus really went through on my behalf. To have one of his buddies betray him, and then to have one of his closest friends deny him "I don't even know the man!" Wow.

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