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Just Pass The Salt, Please by Nikki Rutz The moment wasn't so much embarrassing as it was unexpected. I was in the middle of a Sam's Club picking up items listed on an e-mail I had received. The e-mail was from close friends who are living in a foreign country (what we would refer to as a "third world" country) and had merely listed a few items that they desperately needed. I had asked them if we could send them anything from the States and was happy to oblige their requests...until I found myself in the spices aisle of Sam's pulling off a couple of the items that they had requested. They were basic things - like salt - but I was realizing as I pulled the items how readily available they are to me, and yet how blessed our friends would be to receive them for their family. Our friends are living in a new culture in order to bring hope to a group of people who do not have much reason for hope. They are there to find a way to bring income to the people so that they are not so much in need for basic items...such as salt. So as I placed listed items in my shopping cart, I found myself in tears. I was humbled beyond belief - convicted at my ignorance and shocked by my lack of appreciation for all that is at our fingertips here in our country. We truly have no idea how blessed we are, and it took a good friend in great need of something I can get at virtually any moment of the day to show me that. The next day, I was talking with Valerie (those of you familiar with Lily7 know that Valerie and I co-founded Lily7 together with a couple of our friends). She was telling me about a similar experience she had when she was shopping at Target. She had gone there to buy items for an organization that fights against human slave trafficking. In an effort to support their cause beyond a mere financial donation, she had offered to pick up a few of the "emergency" items that they keep on hand for victims who get rescued and need immediate shelter. On the list were items you would expect — toiletries, t-shirts, etc. — but then there was the item that caused Valerie to stop in her shopping: "clean underwear." Valerie had to leave the store for a few moments, overcome with emotion, to gain her composure. This is a basic need of young women who who have just been rescued from the human slave trafficking market. Do we even get it? I don't know if the timing of our experiences was just mere coincidence or God stirring something in Valerie and myself. I suppose that is something for us to continue to discuss and pray through. But I do know that I am more keenly aware of the need for us - for all of us - to step out beyond ourselves. To do more than talk - to actually do something to aid those who are in need greater than ourselves. We have just celebrated the turn of the new year, and with that comes new goals and new adventures for sure. But I challenge us, if we would so take the challenge, to go beyond our day-to-day existence on our campus, in jobs, whatever, and actually do something. Anyone up for this challenge? "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:40