Imagine All the People

6,457,513,023 = the population of the world today. It climbs everyday.

So many people. It's hard to imagine so many people existing, living their lives, experiencing joys and hardships, being driven by evil or being driven by good, and being born and dying. It's hard to imagine 6 and 1/2 billion of anything. I had never realized how many people are actually in the world until I started traveling for my job.

I went to San Francisco a while back. Oh what a beautiful place! It was amazing; the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the mountains, the sea lions, Chinatown, Pier 39, the food, and of course the ocean. So many people just in the one city, living separate lives while I live my life way down in Louisiana.

Then, it really hit me when I went to New York City. It was an amazing trip! I loved it. The buildings that I've seen on TV and in magazines, Times Square, Empire State Building, Trump Tower, the Statue of Liberty, Chinatown, Fox News, ABC, MTV, and of course the solemn Ground Zero of the terror attacks. The minute we arrived it was complete chaos. We got to our hotel, which was in Times Square, and immediately went out to Times Square to find a restaurant. I've never in my life felt so insignificant! A germ among millions. One ant in 100 acres. One grain of sand on Galveston Island. But the most overwhelming feeling was that of being amongst so many obvious dead people. I was walking in the world's largest morgue.

We made it to Applebee's, of all places, it was least crowded. We sat on the second floor by the window so we could watch all of the people. I just can't describe the feelings I had while there. Imagine thousands upon thousands of people, "living for today", living for work and working for life, praying to the god of money and money being their god, waiting for the next fix and fixing their problems with white powder or green grass or sex or nothing at all but wasting time walking.

Though I enjoyed being in New York City and seeing all of the sites that I've always wanted to see, and meeting a couple of celebrities, and being on Fox and Friends, and being on People's Court, haha!, and remembering 9-11 at Ground Zero, I couldn't help being overwhelmed with a depressing feeling. I was depressed by thinking of not only NYC's population, but the world's population, and how many of the world's population were actually living life spiritually dead. Most people claim to be a Christian where I'm from, but stepping into a place where suddenly most people would rather lose a limb than be called a Christian was heart breaking and eye opening.

I would love to visit NYC again. I love to travel. But, this time, I think I would have a new agenda. Although I would probably be mocked and ridiculed and thought of as one of the thousands of crazies that walk the streets in NYC, my agenda would be to bring one of those millions of dead people in the great morgue to life. I pray that God will use me to bring some of the dead to life throughout my years.

So, imagine all the people, living life in peace because God has brought peace into their lives making them alive in Christ Jesus our Lord. Imagine all the people no longer worshipping their god known as the Franklin, but worshipping the God who created the world in which they live and are even able to worship at all. Imagine God using us to change the hearts and minds of all the people.

Praise God! Use me Lord. Use me.