About two weeks ago I returned from a mission trip to Mexico. My wife, myself and ten other people went to Rio Bravo, Mexico and we helped to build a food pantry and disaster relief center. The first floor was already on, so we built the walls for the second floor and created the supporting pillars for the building. It was some wonderful work. It was also hard and difficult, but awesome as well.
We returned from this trip, though, to the news that the House of Representatives had voted down the bail out bill and the dow was down over 700 points, which was the biggest single day loss in the history of the dow. I watched the news for the first time in a little under a week and heard how horrible it is and how this could spell the financial ruin of the United States of America. I am also fully aware that many people may loose their homes because of poor decisions that they made. Incidentally, these are mostly on the two coasts and Oklahoma has very few such loans. Just like the banks are going bankrupt because of unethical and poor business practices. According to the media, it seems like everything is going down hill and we should be in a panic about the economic future of the United States of America and about our personal economic future.
I know that there are some people who are going to be hit hard by these economic times. I pray for these people and if there is some way I can help, I will. I also know that three out of the last four times the stock market dropped similar to this, within two years it recovered. However, I have a great deal of difficulty talking about hard economic times after being in Mexico. In fact, it makes me wonder if most of the United States really knows what economic hard times are.
We returned from this trip, though, to the news that the House of Representatives had voted down the bail out bill and the dow was down over 700 points, which was the biggest single day loss in the history of the dow. I watched the news for the first time in a little under a week and heard how horrible it is and how this could spell the financial ruin of the United States of America. I am also fully aware that many people may loose their homes because of poor decisions that they made. Incidentally, these are mostly on the two coasts and Oklahoma has very few such loans. Just like the banks are going bankrupt because of unethical and poor business practices. According to the media, it seems like everything is going down hill and we should be in a panic about the economic future of the United States of America and about our personal economic future.
I know that there are some people who are going to be hit hard by these economic times. I pray for these people and if there is some way I can help, I will. I also know that three out of the last four times the stock market dropped similar to this, within two years it recovered. However, I have a great deal of difficulty talking about hard economic times after being in Mexico. In fact, it makes me wonder if most of the United States really knows what economic hard times are.
If you have ever been to Mexico you probably know what I am talking about. Now, we did not go to the tourist areas, if Rio De Jenero or Accapulco are your only tastes of Mexico, then you have as much idea of what Mexico is like as someone who visits New York City knows the United States. You have only seen the tourist side of Mexico, the real people live quite differently. There are many people who have squatted next to the city dump and built house out of cardboard or cinderblocks that have been thrown away. They came here to live, because they had no other place to go. Thier back yard is stagnant pond in which trash is dumped. The average income is about $150. Their is a straight %15 income tax for all people. In order for your child to go to school, there is about $50 a semester fees that have to be paid. Gas is the same price as ours. If you build a new home, you have to pay for the wire and if needed a transformer so that your house can have electricity. The water out of the faucet is not safe to drink, so most people have to buy purified water. The streets have pot holes big enough to swallow a mid sized car and these streets are in the city. When it rains you have to know which streets are safe and which are not, or you could get stuck in the mud in the middle of a large city. The Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church works with the Methodist Church of Mexico and build houses for some people. These are 12'x16' one room houses. These are smaller than some of our bedrooms and smaller than most of our Sunday School classrooms. yet the people who receive the houses are very proud of them. They are simple cinderblock and cement constructions, but they are much better than living in a tent or a cardboard house.
All of this brought out to me, how much we take for granted. I am fully aware that we have poor and needy people in the United States as well. We also have a middle class that enjoys complaining and panics at such news as we have had of late. Instead of panicing, we need to look around and count our blessings. We have so much to be thankful for. Even if things are as bad as some of the media says they are, we are still more blessed than many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. When you flick a light switch the electricity usually comes on. Most of us have drinkable water and are not wondering where our next meal is going to come from. We are blessed beyond imagining and we need to be thankful for what we have.
The next time you turn on the the television and see a panic report about economics, think about what I have said about Mexico. Then take some time and count your blessings. You will find that there are more blessings than you thought.
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