I had a chance to see poverty from a different perspective recently. I was visiting in a foreign and got to travel to a remote location. This was a neat experience, and educational.
When we walked up I noticed that it was a bit "primitive" by USA standards. The yard was mud with a few puddles. The house was large, but there were gaps deliberately spacing the wall boards. As I climbed the 5 steps to see inside, I saw a large empty room with a plain wood board floor, with gaps, but not so many as the walls.
This would be my bedroom, along with 3 other people the next 5 days. The family who owned this home, a Pastor, his wife and their 5.5 children (one on the way, and the oldest about 20 years of age) lived upstairs. The two oldest daughters cooked, swept and mopped the floors, every day. They also, along with their brother hauled water from the creek for washing, and from the spring for drinking. The closest water was about 150 yards from the front door. Everyone used the outhouse, and everyone enjoyed the electricity that had flowed the last year and a half to the two light bulbs and one outlet in the home.
I was amazed at how clean everyone's clothes were, and the courteous respect the children had for their parents. I was amazed at their contentment. I believe this family was RICH in a lot of areas that would be the envy of most Americans, and certainly had my admiration. Their life looked hard by American standards, but they don't seem to notice. On Sunday there were 15 or 16 of us packed in the back of a Mitusbishi pickup truck, and everyone seemed happy to have a ride instead of walking the 3-4 miles they usually did. It's all in what it takes to make you happy.
Scripture is clear that being WEALTHY is not a usually desirable thing, yet most every American I know seeks wealth as a high priority! Me too.
Maybe we ought to take another look???
When we walked up I noticed that it was a bit "primitive" by USA standards. The yard was mud with a few puddles. The house was large, but there were gaps deliberately spacing the wall boards. As I climbed the 5 steps to see inside, I saw a large empty room with a plain wood board floor, with gaps, but not so many as the walls.
This would be my bedroom, along with 3 other people the next 5 days. The family who owned this home, a Pastor, his wife and their 5.5 children (one on the way, and the oldest about 20 years of age) lived upstairs. The two oldest daughters cooked, swept and mopped the floors, every day. They also, along with their brother hauled water from the creek for washing, and from the spring for drinking. The closest water was about 150 yards from the front door. Everyone used the outhouse, and everyone enjoyed the electricity that had flowed the last year and a half to the two light bulbs and one outlet in the home.
I was amazed at how clean everyone's clothes were, and the courteous respect the children had for their parents. I was amazed at their contentment. I believe this family was RICH in a lot of areas that would be the envy of most Americans, and certainly had my admiration. Their life looked hard by American standards, but they don't seem to notice. On Sunday there were 15 or 16 of us packed in the back of a Mitusbishi pickup truck, and everyone seemed happy to have a ride instead of walking the 3-4 miles they usually did. It's all in what it takes to make you happy.
Scripture is clear that being WEALTHY is not a usually desirable thing, yet most every American I know seeks wealth as a high priority! Me too.
Maybe we ought to take another look???
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