I remember one year during our Grain of Hope month a 4th grade boy showed up with a cigar box. Every year when it came to Grain of Hope Sunday we would always do the offering in a different way than we normally did. We would all get up from our seats and bring our gifts to the front and drop them into a bucket that was lined with an empty sack that grain came in from Africa. We would always have the younger kids start the offering time followed by the students in the youth group and then the adults would take their gifts up.
I remember standing off to the side watching a 4th grade boy walk up with a cigar box. Now this was odd because most of the kids had little grain bags that we gave them to put their money in and not to mention a cigar box inside of church. We had a guest from Africa in the service that day, Robert Sanou. He tells of seeing that young boy walking past him in the offering time and thinking “does this boy understand we need food in Burkina not cigars.” What was actually in that box was his gift. I watched him as he opened his box and started to pull the coins out one by one and place them in the bucket. He did this for about 7-8 coins and then realized it would be quicker to just dump the whole thing. So he did, coins and paper money came pouring out into the bucket. Later while I was talking to his mom and telling her how much her son touched my heart she told me what was really in that box. She told me his whole life saving was in that box. I get it, how much savings could a 4th grader really have. But, it was all that he had.
That night I searched my heart and asked am I just slowly calculating each coin, testing the water or am I all in. Because to truly find a solution to this problem of hunger we have to be all in with everything we got.
For ways to get involved, and maybe even “give everything you’ve got”, check out our Get Involved Page.
