An Empty Table

An empty table - that's what I saw as I went to the eating area to pick up my lunch at the Short Term Missions conference I was attending. They were providing sack lunches for everyone, but by the time I made my way to the hallway, all that greeted me was a long empty table. No more lunches. "Sorry," the hotel worker told me, "we're all out of lunches. There's nothing we can do." It was a new experience for me. I was going to go hungry the rest of the conference until dinner. There was nowhere else for me to get food. In frustration, I looked into the cafeteria where everyone else from the conference was happily eating their lunches as they talked and laughed. It wasn't fair. Why did they get lunch and I didn't? I paid for the conference just like they did. Shouldn't I get to eat too? But lucky for me, one lady happened to be out in the hallway where I was standing at the empty table. She saw that I didn't get a lunch and graciously offered to share hers’ with me. She gave me half of her sandwich and her bottle of water. I gratefully accepted it and thanked God for providing.
As I sat and ate my half sandwich alone in another room, I began to pray through the experience. Is this what the rest of the world feels like who don't get food today? (And not just today, but every day?) By no fault of their own, they arrive to an empty table every day while getting glimpses of happy crowds eating their lunches in the room next door. But when they look at the crowds next door (us here in the States), they don't just see us with one sack lunch each. No, we sit around our tables with 500 sack lunches piled on the table in front of us. The reality of that hit me so hard. How can I sit comfortably in the cafeteria with 500 extra lunches on my table when there are people in the hallway longing for just half a sandwich? The main reason the lady shared her lunch with me was because she came out into the hallway where I was. She saw me in my situation and was moved with compassion to sacrifice so that I could eat a little also. The whole experience fueled my passion even more to bring teams and people into that "hallway". Yes, I can go into the cafeteria and announce to everyone, “There are people outside who didn't get lunch. Would anyone be willing to share with them?” But how much more powerful and effective to bring people into the hallway to meet those hungry people face to face? I want to continue to do both: to bring others into the hallway, and to announce the situation in the cafeteria to all those eating contentedly with no knowledge or concern for the people outside. O Lord, thank you so much for this job where I get to do just that! Use me God. Let me be a voice for your hungry children in the “hallways” of the world.