As The World Turns - Disciples Path Ministry
Disciples Path Ministry
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As the World Turns
I do not remember where I initially found this in 2002, but the message is strong enough to share again. I am working on updating the figures for 2020.
Earth is a very crowded place, and it is getting more crowded all the time. As of January 1, 2002, the world’s population was estimated at 6 billion, 200 million. Numbers this big are hard to understand, but what if we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people. With all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following.
There would be:
57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south, and 8 would be from Africa.
52 would be female, and 48 would be male.
70 would be non-white, and 30 would be white.
70 would be non-Christian, and 30 would be Christian.
89 would be heterosexual and 11 homosexual.
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth, and all six would be from the United States.
80 would live in sub-standard housing.
70 would be unable to read.
50 would suffer from malnutrition.
One would be near death; one would be near birth, and one (yes, only 1) would have a college education.
One (yes, only 1) would own a computer.
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding, and education becomes glaringly apparent.
And therefore:
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a safe place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the one million who will not survive this week.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare, even in the United States.
If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.
If you hold your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.
If you can read this message, you have just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and therefore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.
As you read this and are reminded how life is in the rest of the world, remember how blessed your life really is!