Most jobs don't require you to work until 11 p.m. on Sunday nights; however, most jobs don't get you into free concerts at the same time.
Tonight is one of those nights; it's a night I'm scheduled to work until 11, and it's also an event night. Tonight's event: a TobyMac concert.
It's not like I can just sit back, walk into the concert and enjoy it the entire time. I have to sneak in every now and again on breaks and catch bits and pieces. Tonight, I managed to slip in at just the right time. It wasn't the time the headlining artist was on stage; instead, it was the time of intermission in which they had a guest speaker share a quick message. His message was simple and what I needed to hear, and his message was something like this:
There are 7.3 billion people in the world.
If you were to take those 7.3 billion people in the world and shrink them down to a perspective size of 100 people, this is what it would look like:
Only 7 people would have college degrees, 48 people would live on less the $2 a day, 23 people would not have shelter, and 50 people wouldn't have a reliable food source (15 people would be overweight from too much food).
I'm not sure how totally accurate these facts and figures were, and he shared more than I did here, with a little more 'umph' behind them, but it made me realize a few things about myself:
I hate that I'm one of the ones at the front of the line.
I hate that I'm one of the seven with a college degree, one of the 52 people living on more than $2 a day, one of the 77 with shelter and one of the 50 with plenty of food.
I don't hate it because I have these things; these are definitely all blessings and definitely good things. What I hate is wondering why I got chosen to have them and how they make me numb to the other half of the world. Why not someone else? I'm not that deserving. What difference is there really between myself and one of the refugees trying to get into this country other than that I was born here? I didn't do anything to deserve all that I have, and he/she didn't do anything to deserve all they're having to go through. It makes me sick to my stomach. I want to be grateful for all I have, and I truly am, but I find it hard to grateful sometimes when I think about those who haven't been given much of anything, not even a smile passing by on the street.
God has taught me a lot, not just tonight, but over this past year. Tonight was just a reminder. I don't want to be comfortable anymore, I don't want to accumulate 'stuff,' and I don't want to build a kingdom here. This world is not my home, and I think I'm finally realizing how homesick I am. I'm realizing how much my heart hurts for the people in the '100' who live completely banking their life on Eternity's Promises, for the people who pray, "give us this day our daily bread," because that's their only hope for any bread at all.
As for me, it's time to live accordingly.
Out of the '100,' which one are you?
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: "Still looking for a home in a world where I belong. . . "