More than 1 billion of the earth's nearly 6.8 billion inhabitants are chronically undernourished.  Today alone, 16,000 children starved to death or died from hunger-related causes – this is one child every five seconds!  And 2009 is predicted to be the worst year yet by far for global hunger.  For millions and millions, hope is turning to hunger.  Why?

By a coincidence of history, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born the same day--February 12, 1809. Last week marked their birth bicentennial. These history-making, world-changing men from two very different environments effected major revisions in thinking which, for better or worse, have shaped much of our modern Western culture.

Each year in January our community holds a ceremony commemorating religious freedom in America.  My wife and I have attended several of these memorials over the years.  They are celebrated here because it was in January, 1777 that Thomas Jefferson, Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, George Wythe and Thomas Ludwell Lee met at Weedon's Tavern in Fredericksburg, Virginia to discuss and eventually draft The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom.  Only six months earlier, the 13 American Colonies had declared independence from Britain.

2008 closed as one of the most dramatic years in decades.  From a historic election, to a reeling economy, to the outbreak of serious hostilities in the Middle East, every corner we have turned this year has confronted us with major changes.  Change is a constant in our physical world.  Our bodies change, aging and adjusting.  Our families change, with children growing up, and parents growing old.  Our society is in a constant state of change.  

The good ol' USA has been on a binge.  A real drunk.  A fall down, slobbering, substance abuse induced intoxication.  I'm not talking about alcohol or illicit drugs, but a binge nonetheless. And, as in an alcoholic stupor which leads to a terrific hangover, this country is feeling the painful effect of its overindulgence.