Struck by Poverty

hello again,
This Wednesday is See You At The Pole. Which is a time once a year where people all around the country meet out in front of the flag pole to pray and spend some time worshiping God. It's a really great experience so I really suggest it if your school does it, and if not there's still time to make it happen! Anyway, earlier tonight there was a rally to talk about what we're going to be doing this Wednesday and what we still need to do to prepare for it. A lot of the local churches gathered together and we did some worship and prayed. Then we broke off into groups by our schools and talked about whats going to be happening. It was a good time to get everyone on the same page and also to get new ideas. When we joined back up as a big group we watched this really moving video. It was a poem this girl had written to God about the world and the suffering going on around us. It started from creation and how there was no sin when God made the earth, but then the tree came along and Eve ate the apple, and then sin entered our world. And it kept getting worse from there.. blood was shed, persecution for beliefs, the cry of those who everyday struggle just to get a meal, and pain we can't even begin to imagine. It really touched me. How can people have nothing, less than nothing, but still be so happy. While we have so much, yet we're never satisfied. Is this the kind of world we want to live in? At the same time, it opens my eyes to what true faith in God is. We should be able to be struck down by poverty, but still see how beautiful the world around us is. We should be able to lose everyone we care about, but still wake up in the morning with a smile on our face. What bothers me is we are so blind to see this! We're so caught up in our own worlds we're oblivious to what's going on on the outside. It breaks my heart to know that there are people out there dying of disease wishing they could walk one more day, while there's other people pretending to be sick just so they don't have to go to school. Now I'm not saying you have to go out and start an organization, although that would be great, but I just ask that you pray for these people. Pray deeply, with compassion. We can't suddenly stop poverty, but we can at least to this simple task.