Some More Statistics That Are Hard to Ignore

In Rob Bell's new book Jesus Wants to Save Christians, he explains the vast difference between America and the rest of the world. The statistics are not to bring about guilt but to explain the vast difference between the United States and the rest of the world.
America controls nearly twenty percent of the world's wealth. There are around six billion people in the world, and there are roughly three hundred million people in the United States. That makes America less then five percent of the world's population. And this five percent owns a fifth of the world's wealth.

One billion people in the world do not have access to clean water, while the average American uses four hundred to six hundred liters a day.

Every seven seconds, somewhere in the world a child under the age of five dies of hunger, while Americans throw away fourteen percent of the food we purchase.

Nearly one billion people in the world live on less than one American dollar a day. Another 2.5 billion live on less than two American dollars a day. More than half of the world lives on less than two dollars a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150 a week.

Forty percent of the people in the world lack basic sanitation, while forty-nine million diapers are used and thrown away in America every day.

One point six billion people in the world have no electricity.

Nearly one billion people in the world cannot read or sign their name.

Nearly one hundred million children are denied basic education.

By far, most of the people in the world do not own a car. One-third of American families own three cars.

One in seven children worldwide (158 million) have to go to work every day just to survive. Four out of five American adults are high school graduates.

Americans spend more annually on trash bags then nearly half of the world on all goods.

In a little over a week, I will once again step into a world much different then the one I live within. It is not the first time and will most likely not be the last -- the question is how do we as those who in live in such a world interact with the majority of others who do not. Do we truly believe that we have been blessed to be a blessing. Not to use such blessings "to lord it over some" but to allow God to use it for the blessing of others. That is my prayer for the next couple of weeks -- that in some small part we begin to bless others with the incredible blessing that we have been given.