June 22, 2011
(Sorry this one is a little bit of a Debby downer J)
It’s 2am and I can’t sleep. I’m not homesick. I’m not lonely. I just can’t fall asleep. This happens now and then, which gives me time to lay in quiet and think. My days in India are starting to blur together. The shock is slowly leaving and the feeling of “normal” is setting in. It is getting increasingly harder for me to blog every day because I feel like I’m blogging about normal life now (haha).
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| Small slum along the highway |
Tonight all I can think about is how many people are suffering across the world. In Mumbai alone over 10 MILLION people are living in slums. Hot, stinky, smelly, uncomfortable, bug infested, slums. I’m laying in my bed, clean after showering, listening to my ipod. Why do I get to have a bed? The people sleeping in the dirt are still people. They’re no different than me. There’s so much about life I don’t get. I feel like the only way I can feel upbeat and happy while surrounded by such poverty is to ignore it. Ick. There has to be a way to fix these problems! Problems like this have been fixed in the past…. Who fixed them? How’d they do it? How come 3rd world countries exist in 2011?!
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| The streets are littered with piles of garbage. |
Each individual of the 10 million has a story, a personality, a dream. If they were born in America they’d grow up to be doctors, pilots, professors. The whole situation bothers me, partly because I don’t understand WHY and partly because I feel so bad for these people. It’s unfathomable to try and imagine what it would be like to grow up on the other side of the fence.
Pray for India.
Alex... I've been thinking about this post for some time now... Matthew 5:45 sure paints a TRUE view of this fallen world. HIS sun rises and sets on evil and good, HIS rain is showered on the just and the unjust... No government/culture is perfect this side of heaven, but a quick review of history, both religious and secular, reveals that where man has been obedient to the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not withstanding vain traditions that man likes to shackle himself with, freedom and liberty thrive as best able in this fallen world.
ReplyDeleteWhether you are aware of it or not, there are slums in our country that are not much different than what you have seen, we just do not encounter it here in the magnitude that you have experienced in India.
Here's a question I ruminate on often, "Does the Bible reveal to us as man is (fallen and degenerating)and needs a savior to redeem him, or as the other religions claim, especially "new-agers", Hindus, Buddhists, ect... that man is becoming better or will become perfected with each passing day, and man can save/redeem/perfect himself?"
In closing (sorry for being so long winded), your comment about the blessings you have (clean bed, shower, iPOD, ect...) Its not a sin to be wealthy, but as our Lord states in Luke 12:48, "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more."
I think as Christians we ALL need to ask ourselves daily what kind of stewards we have been with our blessings... are they glorifying the Lord, or do we keep the glory for ourselves?
I know I need to be a better steward of the blessing I receive daily...
By the way... AWESOME job on your MCAT! Hard work does pay... you Dad told me about your diligent preparations... WELL DONE!
In Christ,
Mitch and Lani