Into the Fire

Here are some statistics compiled by World Challenge, Inc.

6,571,497,332 people now live on Earth

1,200,000,000 people live on 23 cents a day

2,000,000,000 people have no electricity

80% of all people live in substandard housing

1,000,000,000 people are without safe drinking water

Every 16 seconds someone dies of hunger

57,000,000 people died in 2006

10,500,000 of these were children less than five years old

14,000,000 children were orphaned because of HIV/AIDS

2,000,000 children have died as a direct result of armed conflict in the last 10 years

Meanwhile . . .

$8,000,000,000.00 were spent on cosmetics in America in 2005

$11,000,000,000,.00 for ice cream in Europe

$17,000,000,000.00 in the USA and Europe for pet food

$105,000,000,000.00 for alcohol in Europe

” . . . Nations will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

“But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them . . . ” Luke 21:10-13

Question: It’s our turn, what kind of testimony do we have, what kind of witness am I?

Father, I am privileged and blessed, all praise and thanks to you for your kindness and graciousness to me. But I remember what it’s like to be lost, and all the privilege in the world is no remedy for it. Please, Lord, however you use me, let me be true to you and what you’ve done for me. Teach me to be generous with what you’ve given me. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.