Money...Dinero...Geld...Mammon

There has been a single winner in the Mega Millions lottery. Somebody in a suburb of Cincinnati has a winning ticket worth $196 million dollars. Now, after taxes, and depending on it they take a lump sum or an annuity, it will be less. The fact remains, however, that someone has just one a boatload of cash. Ever thought about winning that much money...about what it would be like? I have. When I do, I waver between thoughts of laying on the beach on an exotic island, and doing a lot of social and humanitarian good.

But let's try to put this amount of money in perspective:

-half the world lives on less than $2 a day.
-the poorest 40% of the world's population accounts for 5% of its income. The richest 20% accounts for 75% of the income.
-over 20,000 children a day die from poverty-related issues.

And those are some of the rosier statistics. Forget about the 196 million...it makes you and me look vastly wealthy. The media is jumping around and making a lot of noise about how bad the economy is, and how there are tough times ahead. My response is: as compared to what? As compared to the majority of the world where the idea of three full meals a day is only a day dream? Where every product imaginable is not at your fingertips, within a few minutes drive, or at least attainable online w/ a credit card?

Our society has a serious case of affluenza. Our society is far too comfortable with our standard of living while other children of God are starving at the gate (check out Luke chapter 16 for the reference, starting at verse 19 and following). And I'm guilty of it too.

We are truly blessed...overly so...and perhaps we need to share those blessings a little more. I know I do.

Peace,
Kevin