One of my least favorite fatherhood tasks, and probably the one I’m worst at, is feeding my son Henry.  I don’t mind most parenting tasks, and feeding the other four kids is generally not a problem at all.  Meal times with Henry however, are another story.  Why you ask?  It’s an easy answer, Henry is nearly two and has developed the strong culinary opinions that typically come with that “fun” age. There isn’t really anything unique about  a toddler being a picky eater, but for Henry it’s a different story.

This uniqueness coincides with a current news story that you might see bubble up on your preferred media outlet when there’s not a hurricane heading for the east coast of America, or some political squabble, or a football season preview, or even an award’s show wrap up.  The story is regarding a famine in the Horn of Africa and 12 million people are slowly starving to death.  What’s the connection to Henry’s food battles you ask? Just a year ago that was home to him.  As a result, this has helped me sort through the clutter and pay closer attention to the famine in East Africa.

The causes of this disaster are numerous and range from drought to rising food prices to corrupt governments, and they all point to the reality of the Genesis 3 world in which we all live.  As Christians, we cannot sit back and just idly watch this tragedy unfold.  We must employ our tried and true response of Pray, Give & Go.

We don’t just tack praying on as some ritual that we preform, we hold to the belief that they are efficacious – that God uses our prayers to effect.  In other words, God can use our prayers for mercy for the people of East Africa to be merciful, and we need to be continually interceding for them.

We also must give.  There are real needs that must be met and we should endeavor to support those who are in a position to minister to the hurting.  I recommend Samaritan’s Purse and World Vision as two good avenues to send aid to those who are suffering in the famine.

Finally, we need to be ready to go.    What the people of the Horn need ultimately (as do all peoples everywhere) is the hope of the gospel, brought through the agency of the church.  Often God will use tragedy and suffering as a means to open up an avenue for the gospel. If that becomes the case here, we as Christians, need to be ready to go and help in whatever ways we can. I think you can answer almost any question of what is needed with the gospel and the church, and this situation is no different.

Back to my food battles with Henry- the irony that I have a toddler with strong food opinions, that often refuses to eat, while the country of his birth suffers drought and is inundated with famine refugees is not lost on me.  I’m thankful for the physical reminder that he gives that ties my families affections to East Africa.  I can look at him and Ethiopia screams through his features.  I am reminded to pray and am overcome with thankfulness that I am blessed with more than enough food to feed my family.  I’m also reminded to pursue avenues to show mercy to those who are suffering.

I hope to have the opportunity to go back to East Africa and share the hope of the gospel, the complete hope that comes only from Christ.  Until then, I will be thankful as I wage feeding wars with Henry and fail at my least favorite parenting task.