A House Warming...

There are many factors of our lives that we take for granted. Last August I posted a blog of the Family Villalobo. Two months later it came to IDC's attention that while they had received a new house to live in, this family of 5 was still sleeping on the floor. After reviewing the need it was determined that we had at least 4 beds to help the cause.

When we arrived, you'd think it was Christmas early for the year, we were received with open arms. We entered the home and prepared the assembly of the beds. This is when I saw all of the families possessions piled into the corner of the home. The moisture in this part of Pastores was high because the rainy season. As they moved their clothes to make ready the space, the aroma of moistness grew to an almost overwhelming state. As each layer was removed more evidence of the families situation became evident with the increased bug content. As I am not a biologists, I only know this particular bug as a "Roly Poly" - hundreds of them.

I hear and read in the news of how desperate the world economy is. I also have several friends describing how hard they have it and how difficult things are becoming in this economy. As we encounter life style situations as this, there is always the debate of why don't they work and earn some money, why don't they just find better living conditions. Regardless of which side of this debate we take, we need only to continue to love and demonstrate, teach and hope.

As a good friend once told me "familiarity rules our lives". Many of our perspectives are relative to where we are in life. This was a moment in time to recognize the blessings that God provides all of us. For this family they are ecstatic to not sleep on the floor regardless of the fact that their house in many parts of the world would be housing tools and lawn mowers. Possibly it is best for us to evaluate just what we consider as familiar and celebrate what we have - at whatever level that may be.