Taken for Granted

I feel like today in the world we take many things for granted. We take for granted that we have the opportunity to go go to school and get a higher education. There are so many children who aren't even able to go to school because of the country that they live in.

We take for granted the opportunity we have to eat three meals a day. I have so many opportunities to get food through out the day that it is nuts. There are so many people who don't have enough food to eat or only have 1 meal or less a day. 29,000 children die every. single. day. Simply because they don't have a basic human element: food. No I am not promoting a certain ministry or asking you to give money, I was just struck today after reading a passage of a particular book how blessed we truly are to live in America.

David Platt wrote a book called Radical. The books talks about how to have a radical faith in America today. The second chapter talks about how he went to this Asian village and was told to prepare a short bible study. The men ended up staying there all day to hear the message. On this second day this happened:

"On the second day I introduced these relatively new believers to the story of Nehemiah. I gave them the background and history of this Bible book and showed them in Nehemiah 8, the importance of God's word. Afterward, we took a short break and I saw the leaders talking intently about something in small groups. A few minutes later, one of them approached me. "We have never learned any of this truth before, and we want to know to learn more," she said. Then she dropped the bomb. "Would you be willing to teach us all the books of the Old Testament while you are here?" (David platt, Radical, page 24)

David laughed at them and told them that it would take a long time. This was their response:
"We will do whatever it takes. Most of us our farmers and we work all day, but we will leave our fields unattended for the next few weeks if we can learn the Old Testament." (David Platt, Radical, page 25)

These men were so hungry for the word of God that that were willing to leave their jobs. On the last day that they were studying the Old Testament one of the men stopped David and mentioned that something was wrong. The man said that they still did not know the New Testament. So in 11 hours, David walked these men who were hungry for the word of God through the entire new testament. He ends that story with this statement.

"God's word is enough for millions of believers who gather in house churches like this one. His word is enough for millions of other believers who huddle in African Jungles, south American rain forest or Middle Eastern cities.

But is his word enough for us? (David Platt, Radical, page 26)

Sometimes it takes stories like the one above to remind me how blessed and I am and how much God has blessed the people of this country with.

I am so thankful that I have the freedom to study God's word, eat three meals a day and have more than I could ever ask for.