It’s amazing how a change of scenery can alter one’s perspective on their own level of blessing.
On Monday, July 12, CNN Money Magazine released their annual list of the best places to live in the United States. My community, Fishers, Indiana, was listed as the 8th best place in the U.S. to live (among small cities.) I know we’re blessed with low crime, affordable housing, great schools, proximity to sports/arts, etc., but I can still get whiny when the weather isn’t what I want, if the jogging paths don’t all connect where I think they should, or if my neighbor gets to upgrade his car before I do.
A few weeks ago, my wife, 14 year old daughter, Kiana, 10 year old son, Noah and I went to Tijuana, Mexico as part of a YWAM missions project. We were there to build permanent housing for needy families in that area.
Let me say that Tijuana, Mexico is definitely not Fishers, Indiana.
All of sudden, the things I thought I needed back in Fishers, Indiana didn’t seem quite so significant.
My family and 18 people from my church were able to build a modest 16 ft. X 20 ft. home for a hardworking, sweet family who were living in very different circumstances from my clean, suburban world. Ariel (the husband) worked at a factory for $90/week to support his wife, two daughters, AND his parents. The “house” they were living in was a dirt floor surrounded by flimsy walls with an old vinyl advertising sign being using to keep water from leaking through the makeshift roof.
As I saw the tears of joy as this family stepped into their new home (still with no running water and an electrical current so intermittent that they can’t even run a small refrigerator), I realized how “entitled” I can become as I live in my American “give me what I want when I want it” world.
That family may have received the gift of a new house, but my family and I received the gift of a huge dose of perspective. For that, I will be eternally grateful.
Rich Dundore
Director of Development, Keynote
PS. Find out more about YWAM “Home of Hope” here.
{ 1 comment }
Thanks for reminding us how much we have here in America. It is so easy to lose our perspective and there’s nothing like a mission trip to another country to put things into perspective. May we be more prone to thankfulness and more apt to respond to opportunities to give to others of our time and resources.
I love that you and Heather are passing onto your children the things you have learned!
Comments on this entry are closed.