Love and Sacrifice

In September 1992, Jack Kelley, foreign affairs editor for USA Today, witnessed firsthand the famine in Somalia. "Our photographer had a grapefruit, which he gave to the boy. The boy was so weak he didn't have the strength to hold the grapefruit, so we cut it in half and gave it to him. He picked it up, looked at us as if to say thanks, and began to walk back toward his village.

When he entered the village, there on the ground was a little boy who was close to death. It turned out that this was his younger brother. The older boy kneeled down, bit off a piece of the grapefruit, and chewed it. Then he opened up his younger brother's mouth, put the grapefruit in, and worked his brother's jaw up and down. We learned that the older brother had been doing that for the younger brother for two weeks. A couple days later the older brother died of malnutrition, and the younger brother lived. Perhaps this is a prime example of what Jesus was saying, 'There is no greater love than to lay down our life for somebody else.'"

(Turning Point Daily Devotional, 7/30/03)