God Grew Tired of Us

Last week Tony and I watched the documentary "God Grew Tired of Us" about the Lost Boys of Sudan. From the very beginning I was captivated and touched. So if you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend it.

The documentary focuses on just 3 of the more than 25,000 Lost Boys in Sudan and the 3800 who were able to come to the United States as refugees.

Every time I return home after a trip to a third or developing country, I'm reminded how truly blessed we are to live in such luxury. There is so much focus on the US economy right now, but it boggles my mind how our country can be in such an economic mess and yet the movie theatres are full, restaurants are full, shopping malls are full.

Whenever I travel to Peru, I'm reminded of what a blessing it is to enjoy our level of hygiene. Clean water from our faucets, washing machines, the ability to take a shower every day with soap, shampoo and clean towels. Truly amazing when you don't have it.

In the film, it shows the three boys (really, men) coming to the United States for the first time. On the airplane, they are confused by the airplane food and eat the pats of butter and packet of mayonnaise. At their apartments they are amazed by the lights being turned on with the flip of a switch and the different types of meats in their freezer.

Now, I know our economic problems are real and I'm not downplaying them by any means. But watch the movie. When you see life through the eyes of these boys, you realize how much we take for granted, how much we need to appreciate the life we enjoy and the family we have, and most of all, how much we need to treat each other with kindness, with respect and with charity.