Sunday lunch

It'll soon be time. I think it's Indian today. Sunday dinner is waiting. For many there's a whole tradition surrounding it still. It involves family, a roast and a sleep afterwards. For lots of people today it involves eating out. For others it's no longer the traditional big spread, but a day to chill, away from the busy-ness of the working week.

Being not long after my latest Rwanda trip one image stays with me when I sit down to eat. One Sunday we gave a party for sponsored children. It certainly wouldn't fall into the Sunday roast category. There was - among other stuff -  potato, greens, beans, matoke, chapati (the nicest I've ever tasted I think) and the big treat of a little chicken. Plates were piled high, and for this day at least children and adults would certainly not go to bed hungry. There was even cake!

The image that stays with me is of Jimmy. He lives with his mum and brother in some of the worst living conditions we've come across. His mum is a genocide survivor who bears the scars, both physical and mental, of that time. She has bad episodes when she can't leave the house and she certainly can't keep down a job. She is often at the church center, where she joins some other women in cleaning in the buildings and grounds. The church help her with food. Gloria is the best mum she can be, but I know both she and her children go hungry.

Last year we started sponsoring Jimmy. He has special needs educationally and neither boy was in school. Jimmy now goes to school and has the opportunity to at least go as far as he is able. The image that stays with me these days is of Jimmy enjoying his party treat dinner. I have rarely seen a child take such pleasure in food. I could hardly take my eyes off him, and it was a joy to see. But what really moved me was that after he'd cleared his own plate, he finished someone else's. He was one very hungry little boy and ate like he wasn't sure when his next meal would come. 

For Jimmy and many like him, uncertainty, including about food, is a daily feature of life. it can lead to hopelessness and despair - or it can lead to the most amazing trust in God and in his provision. God provided for that Sunday 'party' dinner. Some of you enabled that. And because of it - because Jimmy ate that day - he will grow to trust the God who always provides - even in those scary, hungry moments when it simply doesn't look that way.

Well, I think it might just be time to eat. Indian sounds good! Eat well today Jimmy!