Week 3: Hunger and Seek

It’s one of those events that I look forward to because of the impact it has on the students doing it, and it helps kids all around the world get a second chance at life.

The hate part of the relationship is the hunger. It’s difficult to go 30 hours without food. The first 15 hours I only think about the food that I cannot have. “Man, I wish I had a hamburger right now.” Our minds are powerful and will tempt you to give up and eat something.

After the Famine, I always feel a great since of accomplishment.

It’s almost like winning a championship game! Although, I’ve never won a championship game. But if I had, I’m sure this is what it would feel like.

Being able to deny myself food for 30 hours to help kids across the world is an unbelievable feeling. It puts me in their place for a moment, catching a glimpse of what they go through everyday. Bringing awareness to their situation and doing something about it at the same time, is so awesome.

I pray that each one of you will participate in the 30 Hour Famine and help raise money to feed and care for kids all around the world that regularly go with out food for more then 30 hours at a time. Not because they choose to like we are doing, but because that’s their reality.

I’ll go into more of the details about the weekend famine in a little bit. But first, answer me this.

Raise you hand if you have participated in 30 Hour Famine before.

Raise you hand if you’ve heard of 30 Hour Famine.

Let’s jump into some statistics to get a feel for what we’re up against.

Roughly 53% of the world lives on less then $3 a day. That’s half of the world population. $3 a day is $90 a month. That equals $1,080 a year.

Many times, I’ve heard people saying things like they’re poor or broke.

I’m one of those people.

My kids ask for something, I reply, “sorry, we don’t have the money.” And, most of the time I’m telling the truth. We actually don’t have any money in our checking account. But does that mean we’re poor?

Well, I looked up the United States 2018 Federal Poverty Level and this is what I found. This is shocking.

My family size is 5, so our poverty line is $29,420 a year, or $2,452 a month, or $14.14 an hour for a 40 a week, full time job.

This is the poverty line for the United States. If you fall below this amount of income, congratulations, you’re officially poor.

Here is something interesting, above the poverty line chart there is a note.

*It's important to recognize that the federal poverty level is well below what it actually takes for a family to meet basic needs.

Well below what it actually takes for a family to meet basic needs. Well below.

What does that mean?

It means we have a recognized poverty level that is here.

But for a family to meet basic needs, ones income level must be here.

So, if you are right at the recognized poverty level, you’re going to have a hard time meeting basic needs.

But poor is relative. It’s relative to where you live. Poor is relative to what you have or what you have access to.

Let me put it in perspective this way.

When the bible talks about, “the poor and needy.” It’s not referring to you. You are not in that category. You’re not.

When the bible talks about the “rich.” Add your name to the line. That’s you. That’s me. We are the rich.

We have what we need for basic survival.

So, when my kids ask for something and I say that we don’t have the money in the bank, I’m not lying. But if I say I’m poor, well, that’s not the truth either.

We don’t have money in the bank because we’ve used it on other things. We’ve used it on things like food, clothing, gas, car insurance, entertainment, cellphones, a watch, the list goes on.

Think about it.

This phone cost just under the same amount that half of the world population makes in a year.

This cost 1 year’s wages for half the population of the world.

And we have 4 of them in our family.

That blows my mind.

Compared to other people in the United States, we would be considered poor.

Compared to the entire world, we’re rich. Crazy rich and I’m not even Asian.

There is a movie the I grew up watching. I’ve seen it many, many times. I have most of the lines memorized.

It’s about 2 guys, Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunn, who take a roadtrip to Aspen, Colorado. When they arrive, they’re out of money and have to sleep outside. The sceen picks up with the two of them standing by a fire trying to get warm. What happens next is a perfect illustration of what we’re talking about. See if you can make the connection.

Play the video clip.

28 people.

My family makes enough money each year to pay 28 people an annual salary.

$1,000,000 will pay an annual salary for 926 people.

What I’m getting at isn’t that you and I don’t have enough money to help the poor and powerless.

The point is, we’d rather spend our excess money on other things, like ourselves. Notice I used the words we and our. We’re all in this boat together.

So, what does all of this mean?

Well, 2.6 million babies across the globe die within their first month of life.

Every five seconds a child under 5 dies, half are from hunger-related causes.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, one baby. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, another baby.

844 million people worldwide don’t have access to clean water, which can lead to death.

$480 will help feed and care for a child for 1 year!

We have the ability to help save children and give them a chance at life.

If we are christian, I think we have an obligation to help save children and give them a chance at life.

James 1:27 NLT

27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Orphans and widows refer to the impoverished people in a society.

Pure & genuine slide

Is your faith pure and genuine? Do you help the impoverished?

Years ago when I first started doing 30 Hour Famine, a student saw the statistics and made a statement that there was no way to help all of these people, that our group couldn’t even make a dent in fulfilling these needs. This reminded me of a story that I once heard about a boy throwing starfish.

Starfish slide

Once, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

We can’t alleviate hunger and poverty ourselves during one weekend. But with a combined effort of students across the world, participating in 30 Hour Famine to raise money we can make a difference.

Just like the boy throwing starfish, You can make a difference to that child!

Who are you going to make a difference for?

I’m going to pray and then we’ll cover some of the details.

Pray.

30 Hour Famine is not an all school, required event. But, everyone is welcome to participate. It’s my hope that you will scenically consider joining us.

Student starter guides slide

In a few moments, your ambassadors will pass-out these student starter guides to all who intend to participate. These guides will give you the basic information that you need to start raising funds.

Swag slide

There are incentives for raising money. You will earn swag for your efforts. The price point and rewards are in the student starter guides.

Website slide

The fundraising you will do by yourself or with some friends. You will register and create an account on the 30 Hour Famine website that has many resources to help you get started raising money for the cause. You are able to take credit card payments online through your account.

You’ll have access email and facebook templates that you can easily customize and send/post to your friends all around the world. You will have a personalized link that anyone can click to donate to your account. It’s simple. 30 Hour Famine will handle everything once you send out the link.

Envelop slide

You have this handy envelop to store your money if you receive cash or check. Simply fill out the amount and place the money inside. You will turn this in on the day of the Famine.

Each student comes up with a personal fundraising goal. A good personal starting goal is $240. This will feed and care for a child for 6 months. $480 will feed and care for a child for a year.

Group goal slide

The ambassadors came up with a group goal of $7,200! I believe we can over-break this goal!

How many starfish are you willing to throw back into the ocean?

During the fast, all participants will be working together. We have fun activities planned to keep focused to help alleviate some of the hunger pains and take you mind off the though of food.

We’re fasting food. Water is a must. We’ll have many different times set to rehydrate. Juice will be available for those who might develop low blood sugar. We don’t want anyone to get sick.

Here is an overview of what the weekend will look like. Your ambassadors are leading the games and group reflections.

Friday slide

Friday

12:30 pm - Start your Famine (on your own, after lunch)

6 pm - Check-in (turn in your money envelops)

6:30 pm - Opening ceremony in the chapel

7:30 pm -

Game: Nzango Group reflection #1 Game: Shelter Set-Up Group reflection #2 Game: The Keys to Prosperity Group reflection #3

11:30 pm - Hydrate, lights out, and sleep

Saturday slide

Saturday

8 am -

Game: Fishbowl Group reflection #4 Game: Resource Race Group reflection #5

10:30 am - Community service

1:30 pm -

Game: Hungry for Knowledge Group reflection #6 Game: Water Challenge Group reflection #7

5:30 pm - Closing ceremony, and worship

6:00 pm - Break your fast! Communion

Questions slide

Any Questions?

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