So I'm working on going through Operation World..... starting from the beginning and daily reading about countries with my Bible nearby. Today was part 3 of a week on Africa. It went through the "Trends to Watch" in Africa. Now, I love Africa. Been there, left a chunk of my heart there, and the rest of my heart is wrapped in an African blanket. But it is so sad when I'm reading. Lately, my trip to Africa has been on my heart. I've struggled with lately with the rather bad and selfish attitude I had when I was there. Granted, I had only accepted Christ 2 short years before going and was still growing and learning (and still am) but I can definitely say there has been more maturing in the last year of my life than there was those first 2 years. Africa just sticks in my heart. I wanted to share what I wrote this morning as a reflection from reading through trends in Africa... and partly a reflection of the past few weeks of Perspectives and some things that were said recently about a trip to Kenya taken by some friends of mine.
There is so much that we could do but so little that has been done by us. There is so much that we, as "rich Americans", Christians and non, so much we can do so why don't we do it? We live "lavish" lifestyles here even though society says some of us are "poor". We have medical needs that are met instantly if needed. Education on EVERYTHING is so readily available and we have a "stable" government that is TECHNICALLY not stealing from its people... at least not stealing and taking advantage of its people the way some of the governments in other countries do. We are blessed and by the "world's standards" we are free.
Man, do we take advantage of that in innocent, selfish ways. I say innocent because we don't know what it is like to be truly "poor" with political corruption, HIV/AIDS/Malaria running rampant. On average, malaria takes the lives of one child every THIRTY SECONDS. Innocent because of the "religious freedom" any way you can have it. I say innocent because for the most part it is how we are raised, brought up, and taught in our culture and therefore we don't necessarily know any better and we don't always recognize it. I know I didn't. God is showing me so much NOW from a trip to Africa that I took almost two years ago. I say selfish because we are. There is enough food available to feed every single person on the face of this planet 4.3 POUNDS of food every day, and yet there are still elderly, mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews.... babies.... dying of hunger every single day. More than 25,000 people die DAILY from starvation. Selfish because we could do so much and yet we do so little.
Open my eyes Lord. What can I do? Take care of the poor, impoverished people that we ignore until you open our eyes to do more. Open our hearts to shatter the "social stigma" associated with AIDs and HIVand tell the world how to take care. Provide a was for us to care for malaria ridden countries and countries corrupted by the love of power and money. Raise up people to start a revolution, laborers to work for your glory in the corrupted politics in Africa. Only you, God, can work the hearts of the "advantaged" to go and work for you good in the "disadvantaged". Sustain and strengthen them daily. Keep them safe and reach out to those who need you as a shelter. Work out your will for those people in need. What CAN I do? More than I can probably even imagine. What WILL I do? On my own, nothing. With God, whatever He wants me to do because He can do anything and everything for anyone. I pray for humility. I pray that we, as a selfish and rich country, humble ourselves. If we don't, then the truth is, God will humble us in one way or another.
