Taking it for Granted

Last night we watched the movie, Letters to God. If you haven’t seen it, it is a movie that you should add to the top of your netflix queue, because is was amazing and is an absolute much see. This is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. Back on March 8th 2010, I wrote a blog titled Christianity and Star Wars. I would suggest going back and reading it before continuing with this blog. I feel sometimes that my obviousness to the world is keeping me from the potential that God has for me. Letters to God was just another reminder of that. Here’s what I mean.

I woke up this morning in my nice warm house, in my king size bed and serta mattress, I was hungry so I got up and had breakfast. I had some left over pizza from last night, and my kids had some cold cereal. After breakfast we all got dressed, and brushed out teeth. Than, I partook in my most favorite morning routine. I made my 30 ounce turtle mocha and sipped it for almost an hour. I listened to a podcast on my iPhone, and surfed the internet for a wile, as my kids watched TV. I put the kids in the car and drove them to the MN Zoo. If it was a Tuesday or a Thursday, I would have brought Faith to preschool. For lunch we decided to treat ourselves to McDonalds. Of course the kids got a happy meal toy, and before we left I made sure to get a free refill of my diet coke. Than we came home for some quiet time. Faith colored while Japheth watched Mickey Mouse. We sat in our nice comfy house all afternoon. Tuesday through Saturday at 3:00 I would leave for work, but today I am off. For dinner I made some homemade pasta from scratch using only the freshest ingredients, and made some homemade bread sticks to go with it. Of course we have Halloween candy for dessert. After dinner, I fill the sink up with hot soapy water to do the dishes, and the food that the kids didn’t eat, I throw into the garbage. While I am doing this Jane is upstairs giving the kids a bath. She uses soap and shampoo, and for Faith also conditioner. Than the kids get to play and splash around for a while in the tub playing with some of their bath toys. After bath its time the kids get their pajamas on, they brush their teeth, and floss, than they get stories and hugs and kisses, and we put them into their warm beds with nice clean sheets. We turn on some music for them, Japheth listens to KTIS the local Christian radio station, while Faith listens to a play list on her iPod, that is docked to her iPod stereo. Than me and Jane put on our pajamas, brush and floss our teeth, and crawl into our beds. Tomorrow, we will wake up and have a very similar day.

Let see how this story would be different for little Juan and his family who live in, oh, I don’t know, let’s say, Ecuador.

As the sun rays peeked into the little mud hut from a hole in the roof, Juan who is 7 woke up from his dirt floor bed. He didn’t pay any attention to the fact that he was hungry, because he is always hungry, so he doesn’t know any better. He was warring an old ripped up pair of pants and a very dirty t-shirt, the same one that he had been warring for days. Him and his mother need to collect some water, so they walk barefoot 1.5 miles to the river and fill up buckets, and they carry them back on sticks hoisted over their shoulders. This takes up most of the morning. Not knowing anything about lunch, he would partake in daily chores around the villages, spending his afternoon, collecting wood, and maybe trying to sell a chicken. His parents could only dream about what it would be like to have a job and have any income at all. It started to rain, to his family of 8 went into the 15x15 mud hut, to seek shelter, but with all the holes in the roof, they still got wet, and the rain was cold. After the rain was done, Juan got to play with some of his friends; they got to jump in mud puddles. They ran around laughing and playing, this would be the highlight of his day. About once a week he would get to go to the river for a bath, and also about once a week his mother would wash his cloths in that same river. Tonight was a very special night, because he was going to get to have a meal, which was a rare occasion. He was served about 1 cup of rice. It was like heaven. He could almost see it going into his belly where his ribs were sticking out of his chest. Once it was dark, there wan not a lot to do since there was no electricity, there were no lights. So the family would sit around sharing stories and singing songs. Than, he could go back to his corner, back to his dirt floor bed, where there was a small puddle from the rain, and he would go to sleep. He didn’t have to do things like brush his teeth, as a matter of fact he had never brushed his teeth, he only had a few, most of them had fallen out due to his lack of personal hygiene. Juan had malaria, and had been very sick for a while, of course there are no doctors, or medicine; go he goes to sleep not even knowing if he will wake up in the morning.

Let’s try not to forget just how fortunate we are, and try to take some time to remember and maybe even pray for people around the world that don’t have basic things that we take for granted. God has blessed you and he has blessed me more than we realize, so let’s remember to give God the credit that he deserves.