Forgotten

Have ever thought about how much stuff we have forgotten.  From the trivial things of our youth like your favorite baseball players batting average, to the important dates like your spouses birthday.  We live in a time of knowledge and information to the point of overload.  We often consume enough information in a single conversation to fill a page worth of notes.  If you wish to you can pull information of the Internet at any moment on how to bake an apple pie or repair the toilet that wont stop running.  A single newscast today contains more information and statistics than most minds can comprehend.  The bad thing about all this information is that it distracts us from facts.  The fact is that there is a reality to knowing that today 6,000 people will die of hunger related issues.  There are no names to it.  There are no faces.  Until you know someone suffering of malnutrition or have looked into the eyes of the hungry, numbers are easily forgotten.  You see God didn't look at the overwhelming number of people that where sinning.  He looked into the eyes of the children He created.  He felt the burden for those condemned for there own actions and knew He had to do something to give hope.  He sent His son to make a way for you and me.  You see when we take time to look past stats and information we might find something in ourselves.  When we step into a nursing home and see the faces of the forgotten.  When we walk into the orphanage and smell the neglect for ourselves.  If you walk into the home and see the holes in the roof and the empty pantry something inside will change.  It is wonderful that there are so many programs here in America,  but while we plan and organize and have grand parties for fundraiser's.  People are starving, freezing, dying.  I herd it said that  all we talk about anymore is Honduras, and that may be true. The faces are all I can picture.  The people who have no food, no where to go work.  I have come to the point in my life where I am ashamed.  Ashamed of what I have, what I do.  In the book Radical by David Platt it talks about how as a whole Christianity has walked away from the truth of the Gospel.  We have watered it down to make us feel good and justify the American dream.  Reality is the American dream is all based on self and I.  If we read the Gospel we see that is in contradiction to what we are called to be.  When is it time to put aside the wealth of knowledge we have and get our hands dirty meeting needs.  Feed the hungry, cloth the naked, shelter the homeless, love the hurting, or just pray to the Father.  The truth and knowledge that we find in God and His word is not something to be read and stored away.  Let it be the compass of your life, spend less time on the blackberry and more time digging into the truth of the Word.  Find the forgotten around you and serve them.  The single mom who just needs a break.  The lady in the nursing home that never has a visitor.  The orphan laying in the crib that needs a bottle.  What did God design you for?  We are called to honor and praise Him, but above that you where masterfully designed for a specific purpose.  I pray that God reveals that to you this Christmas.  Seek Him in prayer and through His word.