wearing different shoes

"Would you like to donate a $1 to help fight world hunger?  A dollar feeds a child for a whole day".  I repeated these words outside a Safeway in Alameda for a few hours last Saturday to finish off a day of stepping into the shoes of another person.  Along with over 400 other members of Gracepoint Berkeley and from 17 people from our homegroup we fasted for 30 hours.  We fasted to feel just a little bit of hunger that others in our world feel daily.  And if you know me, you know how much I do love food.  I think the experience that hit me the most though was the AIDS exhibit by World Vision.  We trekked down to Fremont after our Clinton Village visit and got to actually listen along to the story of 1 of 4 children in Africa who face the reality of AIDS, poverty, physical danger and being orphaned.  Walking through the exhibit was like walking in their actual home and seeing what they faced; it was sobering to say the least. At the minimum I cannot complain about anything....anything.  I have so much.   Some said you're doing such a good thing or you're a saint to do that but going through the experience I felt like a sinner ever more.  I thank God for the opportunity to go through this kind of experience and I'm so glad our whole church could as well.  As a church, Gracepoint Fellowship in Berkeley, raised over $76000.  I give all the praise to the Lord and thank all the generous people who donated and for those who participated in this very meaningful effort.  I hope we can continue to live out the lessons we learned and participate with even more vigor next year!