Blessed by the Best

Just a couple days ago I returned from a 9-day-long missions trip to California, and let me tell you, it was an eye opening experience. 6 of those days were spent at the Dream Center in L.A., where we teamed-up with them to minister to the lost and the broken of the inner city. The experience that hit me the hardest was ministering on Skid Row. This is essentially where the city moved all its homeless people, basing a lot of the city's homeless and social service providers in this area to keep the homeless there.
You would not believe the number of homeless men and women milling about the streets. One missionary told us that there are 10,000-15,000 homeless in L.A. (or was it in Skid Row?). 10 to 15 THOUSAND. But seeing as many homeless people as we saw, I wouldn't doubt it. The sidewalks were lined with people and their shopping carts of possessions, most of them strung out on drugs and/or alcohol.
Seeing so many homeless people, hearing their stories and understanding how lost and forgotten and unloved a lot of them feel has made me greatly aware of how blessed I am. I have loving parents who've been married 25+ years, a loving family and loving friends; I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back and 3 square meals a day (not to mention in between meal snacks!); I have always had a job, I have a high school education and money to pay for a college (and parents who will gladly pay if I cannot); I live at home and have a car at little to no expense to me -- and all that is just the "necessities". God has given me abundantly more than I could ever deserve. And why? Just because He can; just because He loves me.
It's hard for me to understand why He would give me so much, and them so little. However, I do understand that God does everything for His glory, because He is holy and worthy. I also understand that we will never completely understand God and why He does what He does. It's seems like such a cop-out answer, but it's totally true.

I'd like to end this post with a song. Hopefully, I can be the kind of Christian that will praise His name, no matter the circumstances.

P.S. - I will (hopefully) be posting journal entries from each day of my trip to Cali. Stay tuned! :)