Did you know that if you mix a little flour and water together and leave it at room temperature, it will become sourdough? Usually after only about twenty-four hours, the yeast in the air will begin to snack on the natural sugars in the flour, and the gooey mess will start to bubble and smell…well, sour. That’s when it’s alive and needs to be fed. As long as you keep giving it a little flour and a little water, it will keep growing and maturing into what baking connoisseurs call a local sourdough starter. There’s more to it if you want to turn it into delicious baked goods like bread, biscuits, and pancakes, but it all starts with those basic ingredients and it’s pretty simple. You should absolutely try this at home; it’s fascinating.
If you keep feeding a sourdough starter, it will never die, outliving you and your children and their children. Each place has unique ambient yeast so local starters can vary greatly in flavor and aroma. Ever heard of the world famous San Francisco sourdough? That one’s been kept alive for over 170 years—that we know of. But, here’s the thing, if you leave any starter alone and stop feeding it, the yeast will continue to work its way through the entire mass of dough until it runs out of food, at which point it will completely devour the tangy and delicious contents of your mixture and turn it into a rotten, moldy clump of muck. It has to keep receiving fresh ingredients to be useful, which can be tedious and time consuming. You kind of have to love it or it will cease to exist.
I recently started a fresh batch of sourdough in our new home in Nebraska. As I waited for the hungry little molecules to start nibbling their way into the mix, Ephesians 6:12 came to mind—the Scripture about not wrestling with flesh and blood but with the spirits of the air. Just like the yeast is hanging around waiting for something to devour, so are the demons that inhabit this world. It made me realize that the only thing keeping us from becoming that rotten, moldy clump of muck is God himself. He pours fresh ingredients into our souls through His word, as His spirit guides us through the gauntlet that awaits us at every turn.
When I think about spirits of the air wanting to devour something sweet, I think of children and how vulnerable they are to the evils of this world. They rely on grown ups in their lives to protect them. Our little feeding program that has become a full-blown non-profit organization started out with kids who had no adults in their lives, abusive adults in their lives, or adults who love them but don’t have the resources or the knowledge to care for them properly. Now, Hugs for Tomorrow feeds, clothes, educates, and provides medical care for 125 kids every day, but none of that is the most important part of our ministry. Our main focus is to protect them from the evil that seeks to devour their precious little hearts, as we raise them up to know Jesus Christ and to be fortified with His Holy Spirit.
We greatly appreciate each and every financial gift we receive on behalf of these precious children, but those of you who give regularly are like the flour and water in a sourdough starter. You are largely responsible for the steady growth and maturity of the entire ministry. Thank you for your constant attention to this lengthy task that brings no immediate gratification. We know it can sometimes seem tedious, but as we all work together to consistently provide the fresh ingredients of God’s word for the children in the program over the months and years ahead, He is surely busy preparing a specific use for each of the men and women they will become in His Kingdom. That is certainly worth every ounce of our time and money and is very gratifying. We pray that as you pour into these kids, God will continue to pour a fresh measure of His spirit into your heart and mind.
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HUGS for Tomorrow
P.O. Box 1816
Azle, Texas 76098
