the controversial christian

My Billboard to America

If you are living under a rock or are too self-centered with your own vain and spiritually unprofitable lifestyle to take your head out of your own rear end, you may have no idea that cities in Japan are in shambles and bodies are literally washing onto shore by the thousands.  BY THE THOUSANDS.  Villages are leveled and completely empty with no inclination that everyday life ever took place.  Survivors are desperately searching for family members, food, and clean water, while others are having their children tested for radiation poisoning.

Is this okay with you?

If you heard of this catastrophe Friday and forgot about it by Saturday, I truly feel sorry for you.  As much as I want to say all kinds of demeaning things about the people who have continued about their daily lives, ignorant of the current events and aftermath that we truly haven’t even grasped yet or seen the repercussions of, I have to remember we are victims of a first world country. I am in no way defaming being a citizen of the greatest country in the world, but the truth is, we really just don’t have a clue as to what real poverty is, even during a recession!  The poorest people in America still receive government housing and hundreds of dollars a month in food stamps to buy 50 filet mignons if they want and they don’t even have to pass a drug test!  Many people in America refuse jobs that are practically handed to them.  You and I have never gone without a meal or a hot shower.  Hey, as far as we’re concerned, if we didn’t get a push notification on our iPhone 4, whatever it is, it’s virtually nonexistent.  This horrific event has made it painstakingly real how sadly accustomed I have become to having my needs and even my wants met every day.  Up until Friday, March 11, I didn’t realize the mere blessing it is to know everyone in my family is accounted for.  Many in the world right now don’t have such a luxury.

The disaster in Japan has brutally put life into perspective for me as I hope it has done or will do for you.  What is life really about to you?  Is it about status, fame, success, riches, entertainment, possessions?  Consequently for me, life is about none of those things.  In fact, in the vast scheme of things, all of that means absolutely nothing.  If a 9.0 earthquake literally shook your world to pieces, nobody would care who you are, how much you’re worth, or what you have.  If I could put on a billboard for the world to see, any words of my choosing, it would be those.

Stray from the norm in America of being self-centered, materialistic, and ignorant. Take a look at the world around you.  Get your priorities in order and focus on things and people that matter. Evaluate your life and learn to be thankful for things that people in many areas of the world right now, would (and have) died for.

Does anyone know what the opposite of “no offense” is?  Because that’s how I feel right now.