Our church is extremely missions focused, one of the aspects I truly love about my church. I live in such a bubble in the US, and don't keep up to date with world news as much as I should.

A few months ago, a friend from church gave her testimony on her heart for the nation of Zimbabwe. If you don't know what's going on there, to sum it up, here are some major issues going on there:

• 1.1 million children (1 in 4 children) orphanged by AIDS; Has the lowest life expectancy rate
• Aid group: Missing cash hits Zimbabwe's malaria fight: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/03/zimbabwe.malaria.money.corruption/index.html
• Food catastrophe unfolds, as nation remains in political paralysis: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27806974/

The last link especially broke my heart. The image of the child rummaging for food in the trash is heartbreaking. I take for granted everyday how blessed I am to be able to eat 3 square meals and never worry about clothing or shelter.

I'm not writing this post as a guilt trip, because if I did I would be the guiltiest. But I write this as a reminder to myself that when I'm complaining about not being able to buy a new winter coat or try the newest restaurant in town, I need to take a time out and remember that image and remember that millions of people around the world make do with less.

Our church launched a program for the holiday season called 30 Days of Compassion. For 30 days, we started this past Monday and will go until Christmas Sunday, we've been encouraged to cut back on luxuries and save that money to give to two missions projects in Uganda and an orphanage in India. 100% of the offering collected on Christmas Sunday will be given to those two organizations.

I didn't think my sacrifices would amount to much but I'm slowly beginning to realize that the whole point is to do this as a body of Christ. My small group at church committed to fasting our Tuesday group dinners, which saves about $20/week. I also decided to pack my lunch more often, which comes out to about $20/week. I know this isn't that much, on my part it would only total to $160 for the 30 days, but if everyone in my small group does just this it would total $2720! And if the majority of my church did this it would total $64,000!!!

Some people save less and some more but still $64,000 is enough money to feed over 20,000 kids in Uganda for a month! Our small church of 400 people has the potential to feed over 20,000 kids! That's so amazing to me and reminds me of the boy who gave up his few pieces of bread and fish to feed the multitude.

I never thought giving up luxuries would be pleasureable but when I think about how my small act can help feed a kid, I get sooo excited!