Day 82: Rock Solid

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked.

“Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered,

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Matthew 16:13-16

Excerpt from Pr Ron's sermon: "There is no doubt that we live in times which can be quite confusing and challenging. That is why it is such good news that we have a rock solid gospel message, “Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” It is that foundation upon which our mission and ministry is built. It is about Jesus, who is the Anointed One, the Christ who was sent by the Father to save the world. It is the living God who sent his Son in order that we might have life and have it abundantly. This gift of life graces us and blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others."

Read entire sermon here.

Day 82. Dollar 82. Pound 82. Heavenly Father, we pray for those living without the assurance of where their next meal will come from, remembering them along our Avenues of Hope. We know that our solid assurance in life comes from our foundation in Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord, our rock. Amen.

Day 81: Signs of Hope

Today's photos come from our friends, Janie and Ray Johnson of Wellshire Presbyterian Church, fellow partners on these Avenues of Hope! They've put up some great SIGNS of HOPE around their church to help remind people of the upcoming 9.10.11 event and food collection efforts.

Saturday, September 10, 2011 (9.10.11)
A day to gather in celebration!
11:00am - 2:00pm
A day to gather in hope!
Bethany Lutheran Church

Ashton Altieri, 9NEWS Meteorologist, will be the Master of Ceremonies, so we are hoping the weather gives way to a beautiful day!

ONE of the many WAYS to celebrate on that Saturday, 9.10.11 will be with local Blues Band Erica Brown and Friends! They will infuse the crowd with the best Blues in Colorado from 11:30-12pm while guests enjoy a BBQ lunch - suggested donation of $10 or 10 pounds of food. A brief intermission (12-12:30pm) will include speakers & recognition of participation, then it's back to the blues until 1pm!

Follow the happy path to the Children's Area, where you will find an inflatable jumping house, colorful balloons, and artistic face painting!

Stop on by Bethany Lutheran Church to celebrate!
4500 E. Hampden Avenue (of Hope!)
Cherry Hills Village, CO 80113

Day 81. Dollar 81. Pound 81. Saturday, September 10, 2011: As God has shown us signs of hope throughout this journey of faith and advocacy, let our gathering that day be a celebration of the signs of love and hope we are called to show our neighbors in need!

Day 80: Flavorful Florets

The name cauliflower comes from the Latin words caulis, meaning "stalk," and floris, meaning "flower". Cauliflower originated more than 2,000 years ago in gardens of Asia Minor and the Mediterranean.

Cauliflower plants are usually started in a greenhouse from seeds. After 35 days, the young plants are transplanted to the field. Cauliflower plants require rich fertile soil, good moisture, and cool temperatures to grow.

After being transplanted to the field, the cauliflower plant grows for another 80-110 days. As the plant grows, a flower bud forms in the center of the plant. It is very important to protect the developing cauliflower from the sun while it grows. Workers fold the large outer leaves of the plant over the head of cauliflower (creating a tent with the leaves) to protect it from sunlight. This prevents the cauliflower from turning yellow.

When buying cauliflower, select one that is white or creamy white in color, firm, and heavy. Cauliflower may be stored for up to one week in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Keep it dry. Don't wash it until you are ready to eat it, and remove any brownish colored bruises.

Cauliflower is an awesome vegetable! One-half cup equals one serving of vegetables and contains just 15 calories. Cauliflower is an antioxidant Superfood because it is an excellent source of vitamin C and a top source of antioxidants called glucosinolates, which helps keep your body healthy. Cauliflower also contains potassium, folate and fiber. Like other vegetables, cauliflower is low in calories and sodium and contains no fat or cholesterol.

Cauliflower is delicious raw or cooked. This makes it versatile! In the supermarket you can find whole heads of cauliflower, as well as bags of fresh pre-cut florets and frozen florets. (Source: Dole) Here are some fun and easy ways to enjoy cauliflower:

• Dip raw cauliflower florets into low-fat dip/salad dressing, hummus or salsa.
• Add chopped raw cauliflower to a mixed green salad or a pasta salad.
• Steam cauliflower florets and serve as a side dish with meat, fish, poultry and even pasta.
• Create a creamy side dish by mashing cooked cauliflower with low fat milk. Many people think mashed cauliflower tastes just like mashed potatoes!
• Add cauliflower to your favorite stir-fry.
• Add chopped cauliflower to vegetable lasagna or an omelet.
• Enjoy hot, delicious cream of cauliflower soup on a chilly day.

Click here to donate some cauliflower today!

Day 80. Dollar 80. Pound 80. Praise God from whom all Cauli's flow. Praise God, all gardeners here below. Praise God above, for strong, green leaves. Praise God for vegetables received. Amen!

Day 79: The Grace to Shine

Lord Jesus,

illumination of the mystery of God's unending love for me,

give me the grace to shine today as one of your lesser lights,

illuminating the way for others to come closer to you.

Shine hope on the downtrodden,

shine faith through those working to end hunger,

and shine love on our brothers and sisters in need.

Amen.

Day 79. Dollar 79. Pound 79.

Day 78: Smiles of Hope

Day 78. Dollar 78. Pound 78. From the World Food Programme: "The brightest smile we've seen in weeks was on the face of a woman in Somalia. That's not just relief, folks. It's HOPE."

Day 77: Standing Together

Our generation is the first in history with enough resources to eradicate hunger worldwide. And Josette Sheeran, head of the UN World Food Programme, has a plan.

Sheeran talks about why, in a world with enough food for everyone, people still go hungry, still die of starvation, still use food as a weapon of war. Her vision: "Food is one issue that cannot be solved person by person. We have to stand together."

Visit the main TED website HERE for additional details on Sheeran's Video.

Day 77. Dollar 77. Pound 77.
To a hungry man, a piece of bread is the face of God. ~ Gandhi

Day 76: Wake Up Everybody

Wake Up Everybody

John Legend and the Roots
Released September 10, 2010

Watch the video below:

Wake up everybody, no more sleepin' in bed.
No more backward thinkin', time for thinkin' ahead.
The world has changed so very much from what it used to be.
There is so much hatred, war and poverty, whoa, oh.

Wake up, all the teachers, time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen to what'cha have to say
'Cause they're the ones who's coming up

and the world is in their hands.
When you teach the children

teach 'em the very best you can.

The world won't get no better,

if we just let it be, na, na, na.

The world won't get no better

We gotta change it, yeah,

Just you and me.

Wake up, all the doctors,

make the old people well.
They're the ones who suffer and who catch all the hell.
But they don't have so very long

before the Judgment Day.
So wont'cha make them happy before they pass away.

Wake up, all the builders, time to build a new land.
I know we can do it if we all lend a hand.
The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind.
Surely things will work out, 'cause they do every time.

It's the God hour, the morning I wake up,
just for the breath of life I thank my maker,
my mom say I come from hustlers and shakers,
my mind builded on skyscrapers and acres.

He said take us back to where we belong,
I try to write a song as sweet as the Psalms,
though I am the type to bear arms

and wear my heart on my sleeve,
even when I fell in God I believe.

We the days at, weave through the maze

and the season so amazing,
feed them and raise them,
seasons are changing,
earthquakes, wars and rumors,

I want us to get by but we more then consumers,
we more than shooters, more than looters,
created in his image,
so God live through us

and even in his generation living through computers

on love, love, love can reboot us.

Wake up, everybody, wake up, everybody
Need a little help, y'all, yes I do, need a little help.
Need a little help, y'all ay, wake up everybody,
Wake up everybody, wake up everybody.

Day 76. Dollar 76. Pound 76. Good morning! May God awaken in you a new day - a new HOPE - for making this world a better place!

Day 75: Bless us Still

Psalm 67

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us

so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.

May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.

May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.

May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.

The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.

May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Day 75. Dollar 75. Pound 75. God, our God, does indeed bless us still on this, our 75th day together! Our thanks, dear Hunger Relief Community, for joining hands and singing the song of service!

Day 74: Sacred Heart, Mealtime Friend

Service Opportunity: Meal Preparation

Sacred Heart House of Denver is a residence for women and single mothers with children who are homeless. Every night of the week, volunteers provide dinner for the families. Meals can be home-cooked, or from the grocery store, and re-heated at Sacred Heart House.Sacred Heart encourage volunteers to join the residents for the dinner. Dinners usually need to feed 20 people, plus the number of volunteers bringing the dinner. Contact: 303.296.6686 or visit http://www.sacredhearthouse.org.

Reminder: Tomorrow, Sunday, August 14th, is the Food Breakdown for Metro CareRing at Bethany Lutheran Church! 9:00 am in the Great Hall - bring an extra 30 lbs of rice/beans or donate an additional $30 in honor of Pastor Ron Glusenkamp's 30th Anniversary of his Ordination! God's work. Our hands!

Day 74. Dollar 74. Pound 74. Lord Jesus Christ, we give You our thoughts, words, actions, our joys and sufferings of each day. We renew our promise to live as good Christians, ever mindful of Your merciful love. Heart of Jesus, we take You as our security in whatever anxieties may assail us. Be our source of comfort and encouragement in every trial. Amen.

Day 73: Heart and Soul

It's good for your soul,
(Every family who visits Metro CareRing receives a three to six day supply of nutritious, sustaining food.)




It's good for your heart,

(Lean Meat, Full Serving of Vegetables, Heart Healthy, Low Fat, Low Cholesterol, Low, Saturated Fat, Zero Grams Trans Fat)

This week, go ahead - Toss a can in your cart!



Day 73. Dollar 73. Pound 73. Donations of food and toiletries are accepted Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the door marked Deliveries behind the Metro CareRing building at 18th and Downing. For more information on donating pantry items, please call Pantry Staff at 303-350-3663. God fills my heart with much love and care, It's easy for me to give others a share!

Day 72: Blessed

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst

Blessed are those who hunger and

Blessed are those who hunger

Blessed are those who

Blessed are those

Blessed are

Blessed

Day 72. Dollar 72. Pound 72. Matthew 5:6

Day 71: The Faces of Hunger

Food insecurity affects 48.6 percent of Pakistan's 165 million people,
according to a 2010 report. PHOTOS: EXPRESS/ATHAR KHAN
Full Story: The Express Tribune

Day 71. Dollar 71. Pound 71.

Day 70: A Hunger for Love

Geographically, more than 70 percent of malnourished children live in Asia, 26 percent in Africa and 4 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. In many cases, their plight began even before birth with a malnourished mother. (source: World Hunger)

In Zimbabwe, a chief statistician said it was impossible to calculate the inflation rate because stores didn't have anything on the shelves to put price tags on. The last inflation statistic released by the government was 14,000 percent, meaning that last year's 50-cent loaf of bread would now cost $70 -- if a person could find a loaf of bread. (source: World Hunger Fund)

Between 70-75 percent of ELCA World Hunger funds are spent internationally, and 20-25 percent are spent domestically. (source: ELCA World Hunger)

Day 70. Dollar 70. Pound 70. There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread ~ Mother Teresa. Our gratitude for your participation in 9.10.11 is immeasurable, as is the love and hope you are bestowing upon your hungry neighbors.

Day 69: Sheer Silence

.




.
.
How


is


God


speaking


to


you


today


in


the


sound


of


sheer


silence?



.




.


.


Day 69. Dollar 69. Pound 69.

Day 68: Do Not Be Afraid

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.

But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid." Matthew 14:22-27.

Link HERE to Pastor Ron's entire sermon.

Day 68. Dollar 68. Pound 68. Many of the clients at Metro CareRing, and many other food banks around Denver and this country, are indeed fearful of how they will find their next meal. Will there be enough food? Will they be able to find the place that is giving out the food? How will they feed their children? Sometimes, there are storms in life...but we always know that Jesus is with us.

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve. Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merit of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (LBW Prayer of the Day).

Day 67: I Love Delivery

Project Angel Heart: delivering nutritious meals to improve quality of life, at no-cost, for those coping with life-threatening illness.

Volunteers delivered Project Angel Heart’s first meals in 1991, and today, volunteers make it possible for Project Angel Heart to serve nearly 800 clients each week.

Just last year, nearly 2,900 amazing individual Project Angel Heart volunteers contributed more than 49,000 hours of their time to make sure that clients received nutritious meals in both Denver and Colorado Springs.

Main website: http://www.projectangelheart.org/

Day 67. Dollar 67. Pound 67. You can make a critical difference in the lives of people living with life-threatening illnesses by joining the volunteer meal delivery team at Project Angel Heart! They’d LOVE to have you! If you’d like to make a difference in your community, please contact Angela Barone at 303.830.0202 extension 28. Call today - you'll be delivering hope and you'll have a BALL!

Day 66: In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety Two....

...Columbus sailed the ocean blue!

And just a year later, on his second voyage to the Pacific Islands,
Christopher Columbus brought with him the seeds of
o-r-a-n-g-e-s
and made sure they were planted in Haiti and the Caribbean.

Learn more about these delicious delights!

Random Facts about Oranges:

• If you drink a glass of calcium fortified orange juice, it will be absorbed by the body better than calcium in a glass of milk.
• More orange trees are killed by lighting than plant diseases.
• Even though oranges were introduced in the United States only about a 125 years ago, they have been grown in southern China and India for thousands of years.
• Marmalades are made of bitter oranges that cannot be eaten raw.
• Oranges are orange due to cold temperatures where they grow. However, in the tropical countries where oranges grow they have a green to green yellow color. (source: Orange Fruit Facts)

Day 66. Dollar 66. Pound 66. Orange you glad you now know these facts? This fruit is very a-peeling, and is always welcome inside the doors of Metro CareRing! (Click here for donation information.)

Day 65: Raging Storms

O God our defender, storms rage around and within us and
cause us to be afraid. Rescue your people from despair, deliver
your sons and daughters from fear, and preserve us in the faith
of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Day 65. Dollar 65. Pound 65. Prayers of thankfulness for the community of believers who bring hope to the fearful, faith to the doubtful, and food to the hungry.

Day 64: Heavy Heart

Picture: AP/Schalk van Zuydam

I removed his shoulder from the burden:
his hands were delivered from the pots. (Psalm 81:6)

Day 64. Dollar 64. Pound 64. Our prayers today are for those reaching into the deep pots of famine to help lighten the burdens of those suffering and hungering in Africa.

Note from Brenda: Our Wordless Wednesday post is a photo of a small child being weighed at a field hospital run by Doctors without Borders in Dadaab, Kenya. A 7 month old who weighs as much as a newborn. Somalia's famine will worsen unless food aid increases soon, officials say. This photo and story, which is found in every newspaper and online news site, has haunted me throughout the week. We write of Avenues of Hope, they write of "roads of death", where people are literally dying on their way to receive nourishment. As many as 11 million people have fled their homes as families, in search of food. In HOPE of reaching aid. Be it Somalia, be it Kenya, be it Denver, I sincerely thank you for praying over and bringing food to the hungry Children of God.

Day 63: Halt the Hunger

A story today from our Hunger Relief Advocate friends in Idaho: In 2004, Orville and Heidi Thompson were deeply in debt, with no money and no credit. They even raiding their children's piggy banks just to buy groceries.

In the time since, the Thompsons bought a tiny company called Scentsy, moved it to Meridian and built it into a direct-sales business that has generated more than $700 million in revenue. And now Scentsy will lend a hand in a big way to families who struggle to put food on their tables by matching every donation to "Halt the Hunger" dollar for dollar up to $300,000.

Since the Idaho Food Bank can provide three meals for only one dollar, the donations and the matched funds will provide 1.8 million meals for Idahoans. Visit the main website of this campaign here:

http://www.haltthehunger.com/

The "Halt the Hunger" drive will run through the entire month of August. (Source: KPVI News 6)

Day 63. Dollar 63. Pound 63. We give thanks today for this Avenue of Hope in Idaho - together, we can halt the hunger!

Day 62: Tune My Heart

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Text: Robert Robinson, Music: J. Wyeth
ELW #807 - Listen HERE or HERE

Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
While the hope of endless glory, fills my heart with joy and love,
Teach me ever to adore thee, may I still they goodness prove.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I'm come;

And I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be!

Let thy grace now like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

Day 62. Dollar 62. Pound 62. Glorious God, your generosity waters the world with goodness, and you cover creation with abundance. Awaken in us a hunger for the food that satisfies both body and spirit, and with this food fill all the starving world; through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.