Crunch by Rick Bundschuh Read Free Book Online Page A

out, your youth director has a Scripture passage she would like to share with you.”
    Sarah, looking as fresh and pretty as ever with her blonde ponytail and perfectly applied makeup—something that didn’t go unnoticed with Holly—quickly opened her Bible. “I know I’ve read this verse to you all before, but I just thought it might encourage us before we head out today. It’s in Mathew 25:35–40.
    â€œâ€™For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
    â€œThen the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
    â€œThe King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “
    Sarah closed her Bible and looked around the room. “I guess Eddie couldn’t have been more right about us doing this for God.”
    It was a short devotional, but so powerful , Bethany thought as a peaceful silence fell over the room. Even Kai and Dano, who often had a hard time settling down and focusing, appeared to have dialed right in on what Sarah was trying to say.
    The caravan soon left the dorm and wormed its way back through the city, then veering off to take the bouncy, rock-strewn dirt roads.
    Even though the vans’ windows were shut tight against the dust, the dump broadcasted itself with its strong, pungent odor long before it was ever seen.
    â€œYuck! What’s that smell?” Holly said, wrinkling her nose.
    â€œThe sweet smell of trash,” Eddie grinned. “Rotting trash…the aroma of a working landfill.”
    â€œI’m gonna gag!” Monica declared.
    â€œAh, don’t be such a baby,” Jenna said airily.
    Bethany said nothing. She stared silently out the window at the broken skeletons of cars along the road, the tiny shacks that were dug into steep dusty hillsides, and the treeless, brown landscape. She thought of the little boy and the other children who had to face this every day, and she hoped like crazy that they could make some kind of difference.
    As the caravan of vans pulled behind a trash truck and waited until it was clear to pass, Eddie began to tell them how he had discovered this mini-city in the bowels of the public dump.
    â€œI had heard there were people living near the dump, but I didn’t know where it was. I asked around and got lots of different answers because the dump tends to move locations. Once they have filled up a canyon with trash, they go find another canyon. So, finally it comes to me—kind of like God knocking on my forehead—if you want to find an active dump, try following a dump truck. I did, and it led me right to the dump and to the people who live near it.”
    The dump truck moved out, opening the way for the vans, and they continued on. The smell of the landfill strengthened. As the vans rounded the corner, the youth group from Hawaii could see dozens of dump trucks busily depositing their loads while tractors plowed the new refuse into the mountains of garbage. Overhead, what seemed to be thousands of seagulls glided above the piles of garbage like vultures, looking for a leftover that could become dinner.
    â€œLook! There’s something going on in the trash,” Holly said, her face pressed against the window.
    â€œThere are people digging through the trash piles! They have bags around them,” Monica said with a note of disbelief.
    â€œUm, weren’t you listening?” Jenna said. “These are the people Eddie’s been telling us about.”
    The caravan