RICH

Tonight at our college-age Bible Study we watched a short video called "Rich." The speaker/pastor in the video started out by talking about a popular bumper sticker that he had seen recently - "God Bless America." Then he proceded to talk about how God HAS blessed America, and he gave many statistics and examples of how rich Americans really are compared to the rest of the world. One statistic that stuck out in my head is that only 8% of the people in the world have a car (and my family has 5 cars for 4 people).
Obviously this is not new information by any means, but it definetely caused some intense reflection tonight on my part. For starters, I went to India on a basketball missions trip 2 years ago, and so I have seen extreme poverty up close. I remember thinking while I was there that I really have too much stuff and that I should reduce my spending on such frivilous things - I mean look at how many clothes I have in my closet! Then use that money to support missions and projects for poor countries. After I returned, I remembered these thoughts for, oh, about 2 weeks before I again became bombarded and consumed with wanting and buying material goods. How easy it is to forget, which is why it was good to be reminded by the video tonight.
While our group was discussing the video, our leader asked everyone, "Have you ever been to a country that is poor?" Many of us in the group had, but some people had not. Then our leader mentioned that everyone should go at some point because it changes your perspective on your life and on your "need" for more stuff. Short-term mission trips is something I have actually been thinking about a lot lately; mostly because 5 members of my Athletes in Action India team are on their way to another 2-week basketball trip in North Africa. I really wanted to go with them, but couldn't clear my schedule. I do hope to play on another basketball missions team in the next year or 2. Anyway, more than that, I REALLY want my parents and my brother to go on a short-term overseas missions trip. They do not currently have "bad" perspectives on life, but I think ministering to people and experiencing a foreign culture would help them grow so much. I have never talked to them about this directly, but now feel like I should.
Back to the beginning point of this post: I know I live in a materialistic society and have much more than 90% of the world could ever dream of having, but I need God to continue to show me how to use my (His) time, my (His) talents, and my (His) money to further His kingdom. I realize that this should be my daily prayer and that I need to ask Him to help me keep a proper perspective.

I know that the 2 people who read my posts have both been on year/2 years overseas "mission" trips. What are your thoughts? :)