Monday, April 11, 2011

Human

I love nature documentaries. I could watch the lions chasing after the wildebeest, or the weird bug getting taken out by the chameleon, or the great white shark making a seal disappear. And like I tell the kids I teach, I root for the predator. I don't really know why. So it should come as no surprise that when I found out that the Discovery Channel would be running a new series called Human Planet and I got really, really excited!

Katie and I watched it Sunday, and it was amazing to see the different stories of people from all over the world. The struggles that some of the people go through just to get a good meal or an education.

Watching that, I was thinking that we are incredibly blessed that we don't have to spend half of our day risking death, trying to catch fish to eat for dinner each night. How we don't have to spend our work day, inside a poison gas volcano to mine sulfur while breaking our backs. How my education was a 25 minute drive into town each day, and I could see my parents at the end of each day.

I know I get freaked out when my bank account gets a "little" low. But then, I catch myself, and remember that Joshua Ongadia, my Ugandan Compassion child, gets by on $38 a month.

I get bored and frustrated with the every day same-old same-old. But then, I think about the children in the world, who spend weeks during the harvest chasing away monkeys so the village can eat.

I can sleep in a comfortable bed each night in an air conditioned room; not worried about soldiers coming and taking me or my wife away. I have more clothes in my closet than some people will wear in a lifetime. I can go down to the store and buy whatever food I want to feed whoever I want. I can lift a lever and get cool, clean water.

When I slow down, I sometimes think why I think I'm such a big deal. 6 billion people in the world, and I think I'm the center of it. In the grand scheme of things, I am a speck. We all are.

And I am so blessed...