Something that got me thinking

As a lot of you know I went on a little trip by myself last month for six days. It was wonderful going and visiting my family and friend. But while I was down there I did a lot of thinking and praying and in all honestly became more and more thankful for the place in which I live.

You know a lot of times I hear people come back from missions trips and talk about how “fortunate we are” to have what we have here in America. I believe that, I truly do. However, have you ever stopped to really ponder how fortunate you may have it here in America… versus other American’s?? Seriously. I’m not talking just about the monetary things, the income, homes, cars, family etc. I’m talking about what we have as Christians.

Being where I was made me so thankful to live in my town of Dallas, Oregon. I take for granted the small things… let’s start small here.

Wine. I love my wine. I love how I live in the valley and can go wine tasting on a weekend and easily hit three or four wineries in a ten mile radius. To be exact, there are eight wineries I know of in a ten mile radius of my home alone. What if I lived somewhere where this wasn’t the case? I honestly am not sure there are any wineries where I was.

Coffee. I love my coffee. Probably more than my wine lol. But seriously. In my tiny town alone of nearly 16,000 people I can hit six different coffee stands. Where I was, in the city of 83,000 people, there were seven coffee stands; and from what I hear the majority of them are yucky. Two of them are Starbucks. I have two Starbucks alone.

Christian Churches. I love my church family with a passion and don’t know what I’d do with out them. But it got me thinking about the time when we were “church shopping”. I remember going through the phone book looking for all the churches that would fall into Christian or Non-Denominational. In this city of 83,000 people there are about a half dozen church I would consider going to. The vast majority of churches in this city are not Christian churches.

Which leads me to my next category. Christian music. I have the blessing of turning on my radio and choosing for at least six radio stations (that I can think of!) that play straight Christian music. SIX! My friend says she knows of one down there; and it doesn’t come in very strong. I can rock out whenever I want and have a choice as to what station I want to listen to.

Christian bookstores. I saw one bookstore while I was on my visit. For some reason I almost cried. The bookstore was almost hidden. Granted it’s in an older part of town in which they are trying to “revive” but one. One lonely store. We have them in our malls. Across from our malls. No, we don’t have a lot. But again, we have choices.

I know coffee and wine are not big deals. I know they really have nothing to do with Christianity, but they do play into the main religion where I was at. They are big “no no’s” and therefore are not readily available to people as they are here. But seriously, I was thinking about this… about all the things I have that I should be thankful for… that I should be grateful for. Yes I am thankful I am an American and live in America. But I am also thankful to live in a town that allows Christian release time at our public schools. That allows plays that have a Christian under-tone. That allows Pastors to come and pray with the Jr. High and High School children and to lead Bible Studies. I’m thankful I live where there are so many youth who love to worship Christ and are not afraid to show it.

How sad to not have this luxury as we have it. How sad to live in a city where being a Christian is not embraced, and rather shunned? How sad that you wouldn’t have the choices that we have living where we live. It’s not just third world countries that don’t hear the Gospel. It’s some of our own towns and people and friends and families. It’s those we love and care for. It’s one of the main reasons I spent so long praying on my flight down there. I wanted desperately to show Christ’s love to people while I was there. To show them the true meaning of Christ and what He did for us. I just hope I did a good enough job and glorified Him in the process.