THANKING & FASTING...…

THANKING & FASTING...

In Tagalog, "pagpag" means the "dust you shake out of your carpet," but to others it means chicken pulled from the trash. To poor people in The Philippines, it means dinner. In the Philippines this is how some people are forced to live. Children that are born into poverty in tear-jerking conditions.

The food that isn’t finished, the leftovers on your plate the restaurant takes and throws in the garbage… that is when the poorest of the poor come to scavenge for a meal. In Tondo, Manila, Philippines this is the everyday lifestyle. A dump there known as Smokey Mountain, where people even live, where you can find garbage bags with thrown out food... People will even fight over this food, for if they don’t, they may be going hungry.

“One man’s trash is another person’s treasure.” Is no joke.

If the pagpag smells spoiled someone will take it home and either wash or re-fry it. If it smells fine when they find it, it will be eaten immediately before it spoils any further. When they find “fresh” pagpag it is a true treasure. Even though whichever way... If you re-fry or eat “fresh” it’s still infested with fly larvae, the bacteria. Salmonella doesn't die even if placed in heat.

Yuck, to us of course —the ones who eat a meal every 4 hours or whenever we are hungry, which is fresh food made from home or the restaurant— but to these people with empty tummies, starving for days perhaps, when you go to bed with an empty stomach anything is good. If you seen it from their viewpoint it wouldn’t be so disgusting. Some people even try to sell the pagpag they find, waking up at dawn and waiting for the garbage truck. What they don’t sell, they will eat.

Let’s just say I was never a finicky eater. My one cousin though, couldn’t get him to eat ANYTHING. So usually I ate his food or it went in the garbage and my grandmother always said when she threw food away, “You’re starving people in China.” Philippines in this case.

My husband and also myself worked in Fast Food before in our past, policy is food must be thrown out if not sold within a few hours. My husband couldn’t stand the sight of wasted food which I don’t blame him for one bit… So he stuffed the burgers in his pockets. My cousin also worked at the same famous Fast-Food restaurant, but when they told her to throw food out, she refused and she got fired. She wasn’t very smart, sorry to say. The restaurant isn’t very smart either… Don’t you think this Billion Dollar Company could give that food to the Soup Kitchens or something?

How selfish and blind are we to see how misfortunate others are? No, some of just keep complaining how, “I need a better paying job to get a better car, a bigger house, waaahhh!!!” Be thankful you have a job, be thankful you have a car, be thankful you have a house or correction: A roof over your head. Be thankful you have loved ones and never take anything or anyone for granted. Especially not your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So many of us accept His Name as Savior, but we do not love Him back, we keep sinning and dinning, never praying to Him, never reading His word, never having intimacy with Him and that's why He will tell you He never knew you even if you call Him your Savior. Matthew 7:21-23. You have to LOVE your Lord, and not be such an ingrate. He died for you for crying out loud. John 14:15.

You could have been born into a life where you had to live at a dump, with having to scavenge for goods, leftover food and things to sell. Where you can get cut and burned, electric wires are coated with PVC and when burned, emits dioxins and furans, two of the most carcinogenic gases. Tuberculosis, and a host of many other health problems. Sad to imagine the health of these poor dears in Smokey Mountain, and other poverty wretched places all over the World... they can’t even afford a meal… How can you expect them to be able to afford a doctor? They can’t, they simply can’t.

But think about it and what would you rather die of… Hunger or disease? The human body can go 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food, depending on your body weight, of course. These people choose to live, they choose to survive and make the best of their life. That takes a lot of strength and I pray for these poor dears. You should pray for them too. Need more than prayers though, we can take action. Change needs to be made, they need help.

We, as Christians, are not called to sit in pews on one or two hours in the week... We are called to do works! God ordained works, not your own works lest any man should boast! Ephesians 2:8-10.

God ordained works being Bible study, evangelizing, volunteering, fasting, etc. Get off your butt in that pew and be a real servant of God.

Matthew 10:7-9 - "7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near!' 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,"

To simplify, you are to go out and save souls by spreading The Gospel and uplift people physically as well and you are to accept no money for these works that you do.

Why don't you try fasting... Feel what your fellowman goes through in poor conditions such as Smokey Mountain. Jesus fasted 40 Days, that's no joke. Can you manage to skip one meal, two meals, three meals? It's actually good for you to detox your body and deny your flesh to strengthen your soul. Fasting is a very spiritual experience... I suggest you do it and more importantly, be thankful that you have food to go eat when you decide to break your fast.

Do you even take a second to just say, "Thank you" to Lord Jesus before eating? Jesus came down from Heaven, God Himself was an example of how we as Christians are supposed to act. Do you give thanks before a meal or are you ungrateful? Matthew 15:36.

Romans 14:6 - "He that regardeth the day, regardeth [it] unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard [it]. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks."

In other words... The one who observes the day does it for the Lord. The one who eats, eats for the Lord because he gives thanks to God, and the one who abstains from eating abstains for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

I bet many Christians can't even give up other things beside food, try fasting from Facebook or the computer all together, TV, video games, etc. Give up something and spend some time being intimate with God by doing His Will... Lord Jesus fed the poor, healed the sick, evangelized, comforted the broken... Are you doing the same? "Christian" means "Follower of Christ"... Are you following Christ's example? Ask yourself that. God bless.

Ephesians 5:4 - "Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks."