These are some statistics and verses to think about:

• According to the US census 17.8% of American children (13 million) live in poverty.

• Almost half of the world – nearly three billion people – live on less than two dollars a day. In 2005 we spent $600 million on ring tones.

• 1 John 4:8-10 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

• There are over 140 million orphans in the world today.

• James 1:27 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

• The dollar value of the food North Americans throw into the garbage each year equals about one-fifth of the total annual income of all the Christians in Africa.

• Matthew 25:35-40 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

• 1 John 4:12 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

• Every year AIDS kills over 2 million people world-wide. That’s more than 5,479 people per day. Over 3.8 people per minute.

• Luke 18:7-8 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

These are more than statistics. These statistics are about people. These are more than just verses, they are God’s Word. Think about that. We can’t simply think about these things, we must do something. What will we do?

Statistics provided by the Docent Research Group.