9 Days From Home

One month ago today, Terri and I travelled from our home in Honduras to the USA. We landed in OKC, spent the night with friends and before arriving in Borger, TX we spoke in churches in Shawnee and Wheeler. We have travelled to IL & MO, we were blessed to be able to preach, teach, & share with our friends and family in Texas & Mississippi and in Louisana. This weekend we will be with close to 3000 university students at an event called Gulf Coast Getaway in Panama City Beach. When we finish, we will pack up in FL, head to Texas and 9 days from today we will once again be back home in our little town of Santa Ana.
Santa Ana and Honduras are not too far away from the USA - at least by flight time but, they are a world apart in many other ways.

• Our little country of Honduras has about 8 million people and the USA has about 320 million.
• Honduras is about the same land mass as Tennessee which makes the USA way more than 50 times as large.
• The average age of the population of Honduras is below 20 and in the USA it is above 30.
• The average family in the USA has a car or 2, a house with 2 or more bedrooms, TV with cable, computers, internet, I-phones, and plenty of food. In Honduras more than 60% of the population live in poverty, live in a one room house, struggle daily for food, will never own a car, and may not even have access to electricity.
• In my little country, the average age of first conception for young ladies is below 15 years old. In the USA it is over 21.
• In Honduras today there are more than 1000 people - including kids that will try to find something to eat in a city dump.
• In the USA - as flawed as it is, there is a foster care system that helps to rescue abused & neglected kids. In Honduras many of these kids just run away and live on the streets.

I could make a long long list that contrasts the differences between our little corner of the world and life in these United States. The point is, we need to open our eyes to what is happening in the world around us. We need to realize how blessed we are to be able to say, my home is the USA. We need to consider how we can utilize what God has given us - not just writting checks but by going and doing. We need to be the change that we want to see. We need to lead others and we need to share the Good News that we are blessed to know.

Marc