No Champions League football. No Conference League football. No Europa League football. Basically, no European football.
Chelsea are out of the Carabao Cup, and it is not even December yet.
Chelsea have lost four Premier League games so far this season, and it is only November. Sunderland were on a seven-game Premier League winless run before meeting Chelsea. Sunderland are playing in Europe. They played on Thursday. Chelsea did not.
And after all that rest, Chelsea still lost to Sunderland.
Chelsea did not just lose to Sunderland. Chelsea were absolutely toothless against Sunderland.
#alonsoout
@Tunnyflo009 Can I have the contact of this side chick so I can properly evaluate the situation before making a fair and objective comment on this issue ๐
The same names kept appearing on the collection list.
Some people collected two bags.
Others collected three.
I asked the woman in charge.
She smiled and said, "Those families have special arrangements with the church."
I wrote that down.
The following week, I asked to see the distribution records.
She told me the pastor had already approved everything.
I asked the pastor.
He said he hadn't seen the list.
That was when I knew something was seriously wrong.
I spent the next few days checking the records, speaking to families, and comparing the names of people who supposedly received food with those who actually did.
By Friday, I had found something shocking.
Thirty-two of the 60 packages were being delivered to people who weren't struggling at all.
Some were relatives of church leaders.
Others were friends of the charity coordinator.
One woman had been receiving three packages every month despite owning a successful supermarket.
But the most heartbreaking discovery was that the woman with three children had been removed from the assistance list because she had missed two Sunday services.
The charity coordinator had written beside her name:
"Not committed to church."
On Sunday, I requested a meeting with the pastor and the charity committee.
I brought the records, the names, and the testimonies of the families who had been turned away.
The pastor looked at the list for several minutes.
Then he asked the coordinator:
"Who gave you permission to make church attendance a condition for feeding hungry people?"
She had no answer.
The pastor immediately suspended her from the charity department.
The church reviewed every family on the list and introduced an independent distribution team.
The following month, all 60 food packages went to families who genuinely needed them.
The woman with three children received the first one.
But before she left, she asked me something I will never forget.
"Does this mean I don't have to come to church every Sunday to deserve food?"
I couldn't answer immediately.
Because that question broke my heart.
We had been telling people that our church was feeding the hungry.
But some of the hungry people were sitting right there in our congregation.
And nobody had noticed.