Light in the Darkness

   It is so easy in these difficult times to focus on the negative, to look at the dark side of humanity.  Believe me, it is there and I don't want to deny it or cover it up.  In the midst of all this, though, some rays of sunshine come through.

   Many of you know that over the past 3 and one half years I have been a preacher for an organization called Unbound along with my regular work of preaching missions and retreats. One of the great things about Unbound is that it not only invites people from here in the US to sponsor children and needy elders in various countries, but invites the sponsored children and their families  to unite, to use the sponsorship funds wisely and to help one another.

    

   As an Unbound preacher I receive regular updates on how the program is doing around the world.  Needless to say the pandemic has hit really hard in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the world where the program is present. In one of the recent e-mails I received the story was told that in the poor sections of Peru unemployment is high and people who are already stretched to the limit financially are often in dire straights, unable to purchase food and other necessities. I am sponsoring Anthony, a 14 year old boy in Lima and when I received this news I thought of him. In a recent letter to me he mentioned the COVID-19 virus and how his family was coping.  He seemed to be OK but others in his area were not.  The bulletin from Unbound told the wonderful story of hos in Peru and Columbia when a family needed food or other necessities they hung a white flag outside their home. When others saw this flag they brought food and left it at the families' doorstep.

   How wonderful!  As I have daily heard stories of people hoarding food and other things, of people fighting over the wearing of masks to receive this story of people who are poor themselves helping one another in this way filled me with great hope. They may be poor, but in a deeper sense they are rich.

   This story made me wonder if anyone in our own country is doing anything similar.  I was a bit down thinking that such things are not happening here and then heard the news that down in Miami there are people who put a refrigerator in front of their home filled with food.  Anyone passing by is welsome to take what they need.

   To me these are lights in the darkness, lights of love and mercy.  I'm sure that there are many stories like this.  I invite you, if you know of any such stories to e-mail me at janglin357@yahoo.com. 

   If I receive enough stories I will post at least some of them here.