A Blessed Country.

As I sit here staring at a blank screen I know all I have is the present. The last sentence I wrote is the past and the next line I conjure up is the future. I never live in either, but the present forever haunts me. The clock tells me that my day has silently stolen away July 3rd and replaced it with the 4th. It is now officially our countries Independence day. I have experienced 21 of them and I wonder if this year's will be more memorable than the ones from the past or my future.

In eight days I begin my voyage to Africa.

I sit in my cozy bed surrounded by 6 pillows and 3 blankets, which aren't even needed in the summer. I am lucky to be in America, I acknowledge that my family has been blessed financially and their love and protection will forever surround me. I never have to wonder how hunger feels, or the sting of poverty. A blanket will always cover me when I am cold. I am lucky.

But is luck real? Honestly? I don't think so. This country is great and prosperous. God has blessed it no doubt. But how do we repay Him? The government embraces Him from a distance away from the school rooms and away from the law. It's not God's place in a class room? The bible tells me God is in everything that is good. Since when has it been bad to gain knowledge?

I wonder how different it is in Africa. For the past couple days I have been trying to mentally and spiritually prepare myself for a culture shock of my life. I have said before that I am not going to Africa to save people- save souls. I am merely being the hands, feet and heart. God is already prevalent there and in many ways more so than America. Yet the country of Kenya is poorer than America- and they still praise Him? Faith like children, I wish that would spread like wildfire here. But we have become proud and arrogant. Technology and modern science has blocked our view from true creation and true miracles. It is good to be curious, God has made us that way. But we are to love him first and foremost and love one another as ourselves first. How many times today have you thought about yourself and your own feelings? I know the past couple weeks all I could do was think about me, me, me. It made me sick and it made me lonely. We were meant to care for others, especially those less fortunate.

How will I sleep there? Will I be paranoid of being robbed in Kenya? Death seems easier to come by there. And I sit here in America in a well-stocked room of not only everything I need but everything I could possibly want. How different will my universe be once I step on different soil. Will my heart change? I hope so. My veins don't bleed red, white and blue. I am not the patriotic girl my overly-zealous republican father would dream of me becoming. I bleed red- the same color as anyone else in this world. I have been blessed with great power to bring change. And as Spider-man's uncle tells him,

"With great power, comes great responsibility"

Well, we are responsible in helping the "least of these" so that we and they can bring light to the darkness. These are dark times. I won't be naive about it anymore. Our government and country is corrupt like every other country, because people are corrupt without love. Yes, I am blessed to be in America and will celebrate tonight because we have been changed to bring change.

So as you sit in your lawn chair and watch the fireworks light up the sky and the only hope you have is in the beer can you hold in your hand, I ask you to consider this question. Is there more? Is there more to life, more to this world, more to love? There is more than yourself. Don't say, "God bless America" unless you mean it with your heart, and don't say it unless you are ready to show it. for "Faith without actions is dead".

And I see a lot of dead people walking around out there dressed in red, white and blue.
Will you be amongst them?