Thursday, September 11, 2014

God BlessED America

Thinking about the significance of today, September 11th.   But also seeing it in a new light, since we are entering into our fifth month here in Mexico.  The horror and the brutality of what was done on 9/11 still makes me catch my breath, and I remember those who died and honor those who died trying to save them.

But it seems that 9/11 has also become a day to remember, reflect, and count the blessings that God has bestowed upon us by allowing to live in the United States of America.  So having lived in Mexico for about five months now, let me help you count your blessings today, because so many have become apparent to me in the time that I have lived here.

Number 1.  Do you know what a blessing it is have law enforcement who want to protect you and help you?  Law enforcement who actually do want to uphold the law and see that those who do not face consequences?  This is not a blessing to take lightly.  In Mexico there are varying degrees of corruption and danger when it comes to law enforcement but the overwhelming reality is that they at best want your money and at worst....well we won't go there.  When we were in Morelia a couple of months ago a special federal task force was sent in to arrest a group of kidnappers who had been responsible for many kidnappings.  Of the 14 who were arrested, 11 were policemen.  When Cameron and I crossed back into the U.S. in July, one of the first cars we saw was a sheriff.  And we both in that moment sighed with relief that he was not going to follow us, stop us without cause, try to extort us or threaten us.  Be thankful for our law enforcement America.

Number 2.  One of the things that has made America so prosperous is the atmosphere of innovation and being nurturing to small-business.  It is a land filled with stories of people opening a restaurant or store in their garage/house/driveway and the business growing, becoming successful, employing and inspiring others.  It is the land where if you work hard, have integrity and ingenuity, you have a great chance at being a success.  That is not the case in Mexico.  Many Mexicans (including some I know very well) have to deal with constant threats to their successful businesses.  In many parts of the country, if you are running a successful business, then the local mafia feel they deserve a piece of your profit.  And if you don't agree, well then they might just burn your business down.  Or they might do worse.  You might be a lime farmer in Michoacan, where the local organized crime group told the farmers, "You pay us a percentage of your profit.  If you don't, don't touch the limes.  You let them rot on the ground or your will pay for it. "  So that's exactly what happened--lime farmers sat there and watched their crops rot on the ground instead of harvesting them because they either didn't agree or couldn't afford to pay the local mafia.  Americans, be thankful that you can be work hard and enjoy success in America.  In many places, that is just not the case.

Number 3.  America enjoys religious freedom.  It was what she was founded upon and the defining and greatest quality she possesses.  Would you believe that in Mexico there is still a large amount of religious persecution?  Christians are persecuted by "traditional Catholics" in many states.  (These traditional Catholics are not Bible-believing Catholics, they are actually a mixture of a few Catholic saints with quite a few indigenous beliefs mixed in.)  Christians have been killed, run out of their homes and off their land, kicked out of their towns, had their water supplies compromised among other things here in Mexico all within the last few years.  My dear friend Ruth is from India, and she would tell me stories of how she would hide her in house in India for days at a time while Muslims came in and slaughtered Hindus in her neighborhood, and vice-versa.  In Iraq, Iran and Syria you can be legally murdered for not being a good enough Muslim, let alone being a Christian.  In America, you get up and attend whichever church/temple/mosque you so desire, and you are not killed for doing so.  Or maybe you don't attend anything at all, and no one condemns you for that either.  Our religious free-will in America mirrors the very free-will bestowed upon us by God.  Think about that people.  That is a luxury that much of the world does not possess.  Be grateful America.

God has already blessed America, y'all.  I am so grateful to have grown up in our country.  But, to whom much is given, much is required.  Are you grateful for what God has given you?  What are you going to do with it?  What are you going to do with the fact that you are probably in the top 1% of the world enjoying material wealth and religious freedoms that much of the world could only dream about?  How is God asking you to be faithful with what he has given you?  Because he IS asking you.