I am so rich

Yesterday I drove to Calvary Chapel of Lexington to drop off some missions resources for Cam Moss. We eventually began talking about his sermon on Sunday, Compassion International Sunday. He preached on the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. As we talked, he told me of a website, http://www.globalrichlist.com/, that tells you how rich you are in the world based on your salary. I'm in the top 1%! I wasn't even that high in my high school graduating class and I was a very good student.

It really is funny or more appropriately sad how soon we forget how rich we are. As a result of my conversation with Cam, I began thinking about what we Americans, at least most of us, regard as necessities. A phone was a necessity. In my elementary years, we were on a party line. That means five other households used the same line as we did. (Boy did they get angry when I entered junior high and started having 30 minute and longer phone conversations!) Now owning a personal cell phone is considered by most of be a necessity. We had a TV for part of my childhood. A black and white that could only get one channel where we lived. Now for most Americans, multiple TV's (sometimes one for every person in the house) is considered a necessity. And then some sort of subscription (cable, satellite) to get dozens if not hundreds of channels in considered a necessity. Air conditioning for the car was only for the wealthy. Now, air conditioning is considered a necessity for almost all of us car owners in America. Cameras, personal computers, number of and fashionableness of outfits, owning a house and maybe a vacation place (time share or lakeside/seaside/mountain cabin), etc.

What do you remember being a luxury that has become a necessity? What do you remember being normal and good that has mostly disappeared?

I am filthy rich. I say that even though we some times struggle to pay for unexpected costs like Esther's braces and Joshua's cavities. (We don't have dental insurance.) I truly need to sit down with Susan and figure out how we can be even more generous with all that God has blessed us with. Since I am in the top 1% of the rich worldwide based on my salary, I have a great responsibility to share my resources. I need to do this as a compassionate human being and I need to do it because it is the way of Jesus. I need to be far more grateful to God and far less quick to state that I am not rich.