Pushing Through my Easy Life

Through what? I mean we/I have it made. Thirsty? Open the fridge; turn on the spigot. Hungry? Order takeout; pop something in the microwave. Too hot? Too cold? A little adjustment on the dial and my home becomes warmer or cooler. Heck, I can run the furnace and open a window if I want. I am living the good life. We, a few of the Kimmels, ate dinner at Cozumel's a restaurant up town, after church on Sunday. One of our favorite places to chow down; the food is great, big portions, served hot, and brought to your table by one of the kindest men I know. The owner-operator waits on tables, greets his guests and goes out of his way to make sure each diner feels welcome as well as satisfactorily stuffed.
Even as causal acquaintances we know he has experienced much personal tragedy in his life. As Drew was paying the bill this week I walked up on a very sober conversation. The outside temps this past Sunday did not rise much above ten degrees and with the wind the "felt like" temperature was much colder. Drew was getting a geography lesson on the trials of the poor in Mexico. He must have commented on how different the weather has been the last few years. You know, "I remember when I was a kid it snowed five feet and the wind blew both ways" Heh ha, you know how Drew goes on, but this was different. Our host was describing how it has gotten much colder in Mexico. Homes down there he said do not have furnaces and are not built for cold weather. In recent years the winter temperatures have been getting colder and colder dropping as low as zero in the moutians. He said, "it is very bad. People are dying." In lower lying areas temperatures in the thirty's are not rare. In a country we think of as being hot and dry, dessert even, I was shocked. Maybe not shocked, I wish I had been. But I was saddened. I could see the pain in the man's eyes as he talked about his homeland. A whole portion of a country unprepared for the frigid temperatures of a new thing called winter. As Americans we know that poverty is widespread in Mexico, but freezing to death was not something I had ever considered would be a problem.

How good I have it here, and how much I still complain, inwardly and outwardly, when I can get an ear. God have mercy on my ungrateful heart. Make me aware of the true troubles of others. Prod my feeble heart to pray to those who suffer. Call me to fast and pray for those I know personally who suffer real need and for those whose needs I know of but that but will most likely never meet. Our world is both very large and very small. Because I get to dine out after church I saw one man's suffering in another man's eyes. Do not allow me to quickly forget what I saw, what I heard described. Half a continent away lives a friend of a friend. My neighbor who I must love as myself. More than i love myself by the Grace of God.