Perceived Wealth...or Perhaps Misperceived Wealth

Had a great lunch with son David today. He had been in Peoria, Il for a Catepillar meeting so stopped through on his way back to Nasville, Tenn. We got talking about a website that he had shared with us, which showed that statistics are showing that if you make at least one hundred dollars a day that you are wealthier than fifty percent of the global population. We discussed our shock in those statistics and how we fail to see the struggles around us. But more so, how we fail to thank God everyday that we have a warm home, a hot shower, food in our refrigerators and food in our pantries. He had commented about his last pastor Rick Warren who had challenged them to go home and seal their bathrooms off, clean everything out of their pantries, except flour and rice, and to shut off their refrigerators, and to remove their windows and doors and then and only then could we appreciate how many people are living today with so little. Note that I said living. We see all these THINGS as life necessaties, but fail to see what really is truly necessary. We talked about how our employers make us feel that we are at the bottom of the mountain and that it is their goal for us to reach the top, when in all reality compared to the way most people have to survive we really are almost at the top, and don't even see it, because our blessings have been given so freely that we fail to see them. Worst yet, we don't see those that are climbing behind us that have lost their footing and may not make it up the moutain without our help. 2 Corinthians 9:6 says that "whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously, Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. vs 11 goes on to say that "you will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your genersity will result in thanksgiving to God......we are wealthy. Not because of us but because of Him.