SCRAPS
Mark 7:26-30 "The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged
Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. "First let the children eat
all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's
bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the
dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he told her, "For such
a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Jesus walked 70 miles to have this conversation with this lady. At first
glance it sounds like Jesus is telling this woman she is a dog, when in
reality he was just giving voice to what the disciples and all of Israel thought at the time. He tested her and after she kept pressing in with her request He healed her daughter. At one of our 10MEN tables it became clear
to us that even the scraps that fall off the table can accomplish far more
than we could ever imagine. We know that our tithes and offerings need to go
to our home churches to help fund home-base for ministry. So we took this
challenge of giving our scraps to God by deciding we would all give up
something we enjoy (buying coffee at the corner store, going to a car wash, having the neighbor kid mow our grass of us) and by doing without or doing it ourselves we would in turn give God these SCRAPS.
With these scraps over the last two years we have run water pipes to a small village in South Africa; put shoes on hundreds of barefooted Hondurans feet; helped but a Hindu girl through school, paid for her training, set her up in
a micro-business, and helped pay for her wedding which caused her to become
a Christian; bought 15 water coolers for 12 orphanages in Calcutta; did
scores of local mission projects for single moms and those at the margins
here in America; and are currently building a significant addition onto an
orphanage in India. The best part of this story is that we have just begun to see what God can do with a few dollars tossed in a hat each week at a growing number of 10MEN tables around the Washington Metropolitan area.