In September 2006, I travelled for the first time to Africa: to a conference in Cape Town, South Africa. After the conference ended, I asked if some local colleagues would show me around. A young couple with their 4-year old daughter offered to do so. They asked where I wanted to go, and I said people had suggested I see Table Mountain and the Waterfront. They said okay, but the first place they took me was Khayelitsha – the slums on the outskirts of Cape Town. And I’m forever thankful they did. This was the most profound experience for me, which I might have otherwise never had.


Most of the shacks did not have running water or electricity. In some cases people went on open spaces to “relieve themselves,” as I was told. There were a few locked toilets stalls to which people had to carry water from a well. Most of the people there didn’t have proper employment and there was a lot of crime. Children and dogs were playing in big amounts of trash that was accumulating along the roads. In some areas, people took electricity from larger lines and made smaller lines to their houses in what looked like “spider webs.” There were some nice looking schools, but how can children practice at home what they learn, e.g., about hygiene, if they live in such conditions? I felt privileged that locals took me there to see how a majority of people in the world live, but also burdened by what to do.

Submitted by: Carmen Aldinger

Gratitude and Awe

I once read a story about a young Chinese boy who was lost and starving, eating leaves and dirt to stay alive. He came to a house where he was given a bowl of rice and gratefully filled his empty stomach. Ever since, I find a simple bowl of rice evokes a deep sense of gratitude for the most basic of foods. This whole week has been a rhythmic repetition of that theme—gratitude and awe over God’s creation, for simple and nutritious food from the earth.

On Monday morning I woke up extra early to cook rice and beans for breakfast. We’d offered the kids to have regular breakfasts and save the beans and rice for dinners, but Hannah announced she wanted to try our new diet for every meal. Dave, Hannah and I sat down to steaming plates of rice with savory kidney beans and a dollop of plain yogurt on top. The artificially colored marshmallows in the boys’ cold cereal bowls looked poor and processed in comparison.
I love not having to think about what to make for dinner. The beans go on to soak at noon. Sometime in the afternoon, I start them simmering. As the kids are doing homework, the spices are added. Then the rice goes on the stove. A few chopped veggies and some yogurt on the side, and we have a delicious meal.

We’ve even been trying new recipes from around the world, from our favorite cookbook, Extending the Table: a World Community Cookbook published by Faith and Life Press. Monday was Red beans and rice from Mexico, Tuesday Cuban-style black beans and rice from Puerto Rico, Wednesday spiced lentils and rice from Bangladesh, Thursday white beans and vegetables from Iran, and today we’ll have curried chickpeas from India. We find the country on the globe and pray for that country.

As Robert (a new attender of NPC) reminded me on Sunday, beans and rice isn’t a subsistence diet at all to much of the world. It’s the equivalent of a thanksgiving meal! Imagine that with our simple feasts all week, we are saving about $40-$50 in grocery money to pass on to World Vision. Isn’t that just like God, to hide a treasure of abundance in a veil of simplicity?

2 Corinthians 9:8, 10-11, 14-15 describes God’s generosity at work:
8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work….10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God…. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Submitted by: Kristen Mark

Thoughts from Jennifer Fitz-Roy

I’ve had chronic pain for the past five years, and spent almost three years in such severe pain that I was unable to work or go to school. In January of last year, however, my physicians finally diagnosed and treated my problem. I still have pain on a daily basis, but it’s managed with medication, medical massage therapy, physical therapy, exercise, and prayer. However, every once in awhile, my pain becomes extremely severe to the point that it is incapacitating for several days.


As I began my sustenance diet on Monday morning, I started to experience a very sharp pain in the back of my thigh going down into my calf. The pain was much more severe than usual, and I was unsure of how long it would last. All day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I not only dealt with the feelings of hunger and lightheadedness from my sustenance diet, but also was in such severe pain that I couldn’t work or go to class. I spent those three days lying on my couch or in bed, taking pain medication, and praying. I prayed for the pain to go away and to be relieved of my suffering, but I also prayed to be drawn closer to God in the midst of my pain, knowing that Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness and difficulty.

Participating in the sustenance diet only intensified my difficulties. As I experienced the hunger and monotony from my diet, I found myself thinking about the individuals who eat like this every day, who are hungry, and who don’t have a choice. Those thoughts helped me to endure.

My thoughts about people experiencing hunger, and my pain flare-up and sustenance diet occurring at the same time caused me to begin thinking of people in other parts of the world who, like me, experience severe pain. I'm ashamed to admit it, but this is the first time I've ever really and seriously thought about people who have severe pain who are in different circumstances than my own. So while I was praying to God to help me endure through the pain, I found myself praying much more thanksgiving for the things in my life that help me with the pain, like medications (and physicians who are willing to prescribe them and insurance to pay for them), my physicians who were able to diagnose and treat me, my massage therapist and physical therapist, and things like heat/ice packs that I'm using at home, a comfortable bed with pillows and blankets, and even the DVDs that are keeping me entertained and distracted. Yesterday, my medical massage therapist noticed that I was in more pain than usual, and he spent double his usual time with me, working on my leg and alternating heat and ice. I am so thankful for his compassion, skill, and willingness to spend so much time to help me.

When I think of people in severe pain in other areas, I know that many don't have the comfort of pain medication, the expertise of physicians, the physical comforts that I do, or the opportunity to rest. We are called to be thankful in prayer, and just like this sustenance diet is helping me to be thankful for the abundance and variety of my regular diet, my realizations about the experiences of others in pain is helping me choose to pray with thanksgiving for the first time.

My pain has been under control today and I pray that I continue to do well, but most of all, I am praying with a very thankful heart for all that I have been given in the midst of my suffering.

Submitted by: Jen Fitz-Roy

I would consider myself a pretty healthy eater, after all, I did choose nutrition as a profession. However, just about the one and only food that I lack a desire to eat would be beans. I come from a long line of bean haters all marching to the banner of the beans texture being its main character flaw. I can eat them but its never my first choice. So the thought of eating just beans and rice all week almost sent me running for the door Sunday morning. Now I wouldn't have felt so bad for myself if it was just myself I had to feed because I could have stretched the definition of beans and rice just a bit, but being married to a willing beans and rice contestant makes the sneaking my normal foods somewhat of a challenge. So I relunctantly dragged the bag of beans out of the cupboard and set to work making enough (and just enough) to get us through the week. However, being a bean hater I realized very quickly that I do not know how to cook the darn things. Being ever aware of sodium in the canned varieties, our beans came like little pellets right out of a sack. I've been boiling them all day it seems yet they don't want to become soft. Talk about a test of patience. This week has shown me how much I have to be thankful for, how much I take for granted (like NOT usually having to cook something all day to make it palatable) and most importantly that I NEVER have the right to complain about my life. I thank God for the gift of this life and although I do not know why I was born here and not there I choose to do HIS will in this place today and forever with a grateful heart.

Submitted by: Jackie Hempel

Freedom From Food--Thoughts from the Johnston Family

We have offically completed day 4 of our "rice and beans" diet. Our children our 4,2 and 14 months so we are having oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast, a normal lunch (sandwich and fruit) and only a bowl of rice and beans for dinner. We have no snacks after lunch. (The baby is of course excluded). Barrett and I are taking it a step further by having rice and beans for lunch as well. Going into the week we were not sure how much impact this would have on our children but were excited to see what happened. All I can say is that the Lord works in amazing ways. Abram (4 years) has soaked it up. He and his little sister, Faith (2.5 years), had the most amazing conversation around the dinner table last night that started with the discussion of the poor kids in the world who "don't even have popsicles or gum" and ended with them talking about Jesus and how he lives in all kids hearts and how God will take them all to heaven to be with Him. Faith ended it with "Abram, I don't know where Heaven is but when I am 5 I will learn that".
This is not a diet. To me, fasting is freedom. The freedom from food and the role it plays in our lives. The freedom to NOT think about food. It seems like there is so much more time in the evenings to spend with family or to read rather than hang around the kitchen and snack while watching our favorite show. Fasting is something that has been a part of my family for a long time. Every year, my father fasts for 3 whole days leading up to Thanksgiving. He uses it as a focused time of prayer and a way to be reminded of all that he has to be thankful for. As a child, I remember my dad eating very small portions on Thanksgiving Day. Yes, because of the fast, he would have been sick to eat a lot but it was also because he felt like it wasn't a time for us to indulge. Food is a gift. So many people don't have it. We have too much of it. He always spoke of how grateful we should be to just sit around that Thanksgiving table and eat a meal together. I learned watching him (and later doing it with him) how much freedom I found in those 3 days of fasting. It is hard when you are hungry but it also provides some freedom to just be still and pray and be thankful. For 3 days, you don't have to think about food, the kitchen, snacks, etc...This week as actually been a little harder for me because I have to be around food and be disciplined about what and why we are eating. It has had such an impact on our family.

I am looking forward to the fast on Saturday. Although it is not easy, I pray that God will change my heart and mind and break my spirit so I have greater compassion for those that do not have the luxury of returning to a normal diet like we do. All of the encouragement from the entire NPC family has been amazing. We are so blessed to be a part of it!

Submitted by the Johnston Family

I'm not the only one who misses Starbucks

So this week we are on a subsistence diet which includes oatmeal, beans and rice. That means no Starbucks. I miss my Chai. But funny I am not the only one. Zach wanted a treat with his tea at snacktime and when he looked at the empty snack draw he turned to me and said "Can we go to Starbucks for a treat?"  Of course this week it's easy, I don't even have to think about how to respond. We are not hitting any restaurants or grocery stores this week. He quickly said "Well let's go to Starbucks and just have oatmeal. They have that there." (pretty clever I thought) . But again I said "Nope sorry bud." He sighed. And then I thought why not see how much he has taken in this week. And so I asked, 'Why?" "Why are we not going to Starbucks this week." Without hesitation he said, 'Because people who have nothing to eat don't ever get to go to Starbucks."

submitted by Nici Smith

Thoughts from the Campbell girls

Today is day 3 of our limited diet…


Elizabeth - It is very hard to eat only limited food when I usually eat a lot of fancy food like meat and I am  trying to get through it because I know a lot of families do not eat breakfast lunch and dinner. Me and my cousin Grace are e-mailing each other to check in to see how we are doing. It is much easier to do this with my buddy Grace.

Erin - Today at school there were birthday lunches for April, and my birthday is in April. When the principal offered me an ice cream sandwich I told him I could not eat it because my family is eating rice and beans like families in Africa and other places. It is hard to do this but I know I am doing a good thing. It is teaching us what it feels like to be hungry.

A little ones shall lead us....

So, today I need to brag about my kids. God has really blessed us as a family. We are learning lots about self-discipline and compassion for those who are in need. Today, Elizabeth has been toughing it out, wanting sugar but remaining resolved to stick with the subsistence diet. This is huge because Elizabeth eats every 12 seconds. Mary decided tonight to forego a soccer game (not usually a big deal but she has missed two of three games already due to a heel injury) to participate in the 30 Hour Famine on Saturday. And Erin, she was invited to a special birthday lunch with the principal for all the kids with April birthdays. She ate her meager lunch she brought and when the principal brought out cake and ice cream, she declined, and told the principal what she was doing at her church. Today I am tired and had a headache most of the day. So tonight I will go to bed inspired by my children's faithfulness.

Family Council

Our family has been participating in the rice and beans subsistence diet since Sunday evening. On that very night, the children were all fighting over video games they are allowed to play on weekends. It was also the last night of vacation, so that made us all "edgy".

As the tone became louder and the kids began complaining about the games (whose turn it was), the rice and beans fare, and the piles of school work awaiting them, things finally came to a "head" when the video cable snapped off inside the TV! Thankfully, we use our 20 year old TV for the games and not the newer one! We called a "family council" to discuss the situation and find a solution to the fighting.

Family Council, is an idea that our eldest son developed when he was earning a Boy Scout badge for family life. We gather around the table on Friday nights and we use a "talking piece" to allow for one person at a time to express their feelings, frustrations and kudos to the others. We end each council by going around the table to ask how we can be in prayer for one another. It's a fine idea but often needs heavy intervention from the parents in order to stay on track and not devolve into personal attacks!

The result of this special family council was amazing! We decided that the videos and games were only causing problems. If we were giving up "extra" food for the week then we might as well give up "extra" TV time too! So, this week our family is eating a subsistence diet of mostly rice and beans. In addition, we've decided to give up television watching and all videos. After much discussion, we did allow for "educational" computer games on a limited basis.

The result? We are interacting more positively together. We have played almost every board game we own, we read together and talk about what we're reading, the children play outside when it's not raining and spent almost all of Monday afternoon playing Kuub (Swedish lawn game involving throwing large blocks of wood). We play music more often and not just because the parents have "guilted" the children into practicing. We dance together...well, some of us do and others just hang their heads and turn red.

The upshot is that as a family, we are rediscovering one another! While I would NEVER wish extreme hunger to visit my family, it is nice to know that those who live in want, are a bit closer to what God may have intended family relationships to look like. We fill our lives with the clutter of food, instant media navigation, large houses and lawns, "organized" activities for our children, and general overconsumption of energy resources. Simplifying our lives by even a fraction can clear out spaces and make room for God's miraculous power to cultivate new growth!

Rebecca Sommer-Petersen

Thoughts from the Miller Family

Josh - We are eating rice and beans this week so we can see what it’s like for people who only eat rice and beans. It’s really hard because we don’t get to go out to breakfast with Daddy. When I think about all the stuff I want to eat, like pistachios and fruit, except for mangos, it makes me feel kind of grateful and kind of sad.

Sam - We are not eating fancy foods this week like ice cream or steak; we’re just eating… mostly rice and beans. We’re doing this to see what it’s like to live the way poor people live. It’s kind of hard because at school they are having a bake sale, and I can’t buy anything. I’m learning that it’s really really hard for people to live this way.

Kara - Daily menu from the Millers: eggs and bread and milk for breakfast, rice and beans and a piece of fruit for lunch, rice and beans and fresh veggies for supper. I’m realizing as I type this menu that even in this week of giving up, we are so very fortunate… 3 meals a day, luxuries like fruit and vegetables and milk and bread and eggs., and the knowledge that we can go back to Oreos and Dunkin’ Donuts on Sunday. Food is much more important to me than I thought. I rely on food to make me happy. I look forward to it during the day, and I’m finding myself depressed without those special treats. Isn’t that the definition of an idol? This has become more than just an attempt to empathize with the poor…

Dave - So this week has been rice & beans. I pride myself in not really caring what I eat in general, as long as I'm not hungry. So I figured it wouldn't be too hard. fine. then came sunday night. no snack before bed! Well, unless I wanted a handful of lentils. Ok - no biggie. breakfast - bread, no butter. lunch - rice&beans. dinner - rice&beans. pre-bed snack? Uh - no. Repeat. Repeat again, etc. Argg. Guess I do have some preference to what I eat after all.






in all this, we're praying as a family that God would teach us something and that we would be changed.

This morning, I had left-over rice and beans for breakfast. I just started this diet at dinner last night (Tuesday). A moment of shame hit me when I couldn't find the left-over containers in a pretty packed refrigerator. The feeling that it was all a farce grew inside me when I served myself a portion into a nice, clean glass bowl with shiny spoon still warm from the dishwasher. "Who am I kidding?" I thought as I hit the convenient one-minute button on the microwave. Then, I sat at the table alone, and for a moment was tempted to turn on the TV. Instead, I stopped, looked around - at the appliances, dishes, all the do-dads in the kitchen, and then down at my bowl. When I whispered a prayer of thanks for my food, I knew God was close and working something out inside me. My heart was truly thankful.

~Emi Wieczorek

Hoping that you are each drawing close to the Lord in these days and times... I feel His sustaining hand as I walk through my days with this restricted food plan.  I feel an odd peace for myself and a new compassion for those for whom the choices are so limited... I also feel that maybe choice is not all it's cracked up to be!  Perhaps that is part of the lesson for me... do I really need all the "fancy" foods and all the distractions it provides?  All the costs it demands?  Can my time and money be better used elsewhere??

Submitted by: Wendy Williams

The Empty Refrigerator

Our family spent a couple of days on Cape Cod last week for Spring Break. We had a great time and were thankful for the gift of a short break that was fun and relaxing. We did come home to find that we (well I actually think it was me) had left the refrigerator door open. Yeh. Bye bye food. And not just a little bit of it. I am the type that hates shopping and if I can plan well enough to go only twice a month I find myself satisfied.  But that means the refrigerator is full, most of the time. As I tossed two bags full of food away I felt pretty sick to my stomach. Realizing that we were about to begin our “when hunger comes home” week at church made me all the more mindful of the waste. The temptation to hit the store and restock was interrupted when I sensed that maybe it would be ok to just live with an empty refrigerator for a week. To experience what that might feel like to many in our world who do not have a refrigerator let alone any food to eat at all. What's strange though is that as a family we are appreciating our empty refrigerator. It's actually made our subsistence diet that much easier. I can honestly say to my kids (and myself for that matter) “Sorry we don't have that.” What's more our lack of choice and options has actually been a surprising blessing. The daily mealtime squabbles and stress over what to prepare that might satisfy each ones individual food preferences just does not exist. It's real simple. No dessert or treats this week. Oatmeal for breakfast, beans and rice for dinner and a combination of that in some way for lunch. I know that long term the monotony would get to us all and right now it's still new and even strangely fun to do what we are doing. But I keep wondering about the simplicity of it all and wondering whether we are so “privileged” after all with all our abundance and with all our variety and choices and fancy meals. So here's thanks to an empty fridge and all the lessons we are learning.

Submitted by: Nici Smith

What if my children really went hungry?

Today is day two of our family's subsistence diet. Our boring, simple, limited diet..... Somehow I thought this would be easier. The girls are doing great- their attitudes are wonderful and their hearts are willing. But, already we're feeling the effects. We all have been experiencing headaches and are low on energy.

I know in my head that this is okay. We're all safe and our health is not in jeopardy. But still I am feeling the need to fix this in some way. Today I gave one of my girl's permission to have a small bowl of cereal when she got home. She was very upset and torn. She had a terrible headache that began yesterday. She wanted to keep her commitment but was really struggling. At dinner she ate her rice and beans happily. Now she is downstairs emailing her cousin. They have decided to encourage each other everyday-- "This is so much easier dad, when you do it with a buddy." I suspect their interaction will boost her spirits and spur her on.

As a dad, there is nothing scarier to me than the thought that my kids won't have enough. Enough fun, enough education, enough exercise, enough.... You get the picture. And as the guy who prepares most of the meals in our house, the enough to eat thing is especially important. I guess one of the primary ways I love on my family (and friends) is by cooking for them. I love to cook someone's favorite meal and see them enjoy it. To make something I know will give my family pleasure and make them feel special is what I do best. I am a care giver and food is one way I lavish care on those I love.

These past two days have been an adjustment. Sure, it had been great to have a simple meal to clean up after and to not think about what to make for dinner. It has certainly been less work. And it has made me express love for my family in other ways. Still, it feels strange to me to not pack up their lunch with something special. And it is definitely weird to give them one thing for dinner on somewhat empty plate. And I instinctively find myself worrying, "Is that enough dinner?" or "Boy, that lunch box looks empty".

Then I think about how many moms and dads had nothing to put on the table tonight; or who had to rely on the kindness of strangers to feed their children a meal at school today. I cannot even fathom what that must feel like. To see hunger in my children's eyes. To hear them cry out for something-- anything-- to fill their stomachs. How can any parent bear that?

So tonight, I pray for all of those parents in the world who have no choice but to watch their children suffer from malnutrition. My heart breaks for them. God, give them the grace and strength they need each day-- give them hope to persevere and most of all, give them food for their little ones. And God, never let me forget these moms and dads. Amen.

I Dare You...

to watch this video and not be affected:
Five days of hunger

-john m

How to post to our BLOG!

We are very excited to have you share how God is impacting you and your family this week. If you would like to post to our blog please email the content to bmacleod@newtonpres.org .  It could be a simple line that your child stated, or a story about a service project you did as a family, a link to a valuable resource etc. Don't be shy!

Newton Serves

The Tuesday night Newton Small Group took the opportunity to participate in Newton Serves yesterday. We got to help build 4 planters at the Carroll Center for the Blind, just up the street from NPC.  We are certainly not masons but we are engineers, teachers and artists so there was an ounce of hope for us! Bob Schulein sure can split rock!  Katie Boyce, Kate Schulein and Debbie Tully are now expert cement mixers! Frank Sr. Tully, Frank Jr. Boyce and Jeff are proficient in wheelbarrow skills and laying brick! I myself took on the role of project manager, photographer and water-girl.  At first it seemed like it was a fun project to work on as a group. But as the day went on and the president of the Carroll Center, Mike, (in his quintessential boston italian manor), kept talking about how much potential this garden had to impact the lives of his clients, we all became a bit more connected to this project and excited to see its impact. Mike was so excited to have us come back in a month, share dinner with his clients and then explore the garden with them. We are all very excited about this! We also had the opportunity to meet a neighbor (Sue) who just wanted to help out in the neighborhood. She jumped right in to work along side our crazy group.  I had felt quite unproductive most of the day since brick lugging isn't my gift these days, however I had the opportunity to get to Sue and her family all while sharing about what NPC is doing this week. All in all, it was a great day! Enjoy a few photos!

NPC's When Hunger Comes Home

"And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work."  2 Cor 9:8

More than 1 billion people in the world don't get enough to eat. That's one of every seven people on the planet.  For years, our youth have participated in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine, a worldwide movement of students who are serious about serving God and fighting hunger - all on an empty stomach. For 30 hours, participants get a taste of hunger by not eat - something more than a billion people the world experience every day. Through fundraising activities, community service projects, and learning the facts of world hunger, students are changed in amazing ways as they help others and save lives.

This year we are challenging the whole Newton Pres family to join our youth in an effort to gain a greater understanding of hunger and to think about how God might be calling us to respond to this global epidemic. This will be one emphasis in a churchwide focus this spring on Good New for the Poor.

During the week of April 25th - May 2nd, the NPC family will be encouraged to fast in some way. One option would be to limit your diet to only rice and beans for five days. You will also be encouraged to fast when our youth are fasting, Sat. 5/2 - Sun. 5/3. There will be other ways to explore the problem of hunger during the week. Devotional guides, daily email blasts, an interactive prayer chapel, a community blog and serving opportunities will be offered to help people of all ages (even children!) understand and appreciate the magnitude and implications of hunger both locally and globally.