The Liberian people are very aware of being thankful to be alive another day. The average age here is 19 years old and only 50 percent of children live to their 5th birthday. At our staff devotions we always share things we are thankful for and one of the things everyone always says is that they are thankful to be alive another day. At church every Sunday they always give thanks for being alive and being able to be at church. They always reference what Sunday it is (for example - the first Sunday of December) and that they are still alive! They are very cognizant of the days and being alive and healthy. At church they will usually say something like this, "Are we better than those who didn't wake up this morning?
Are we better than those who are sick? No. But we are still here and we are to glorify God and give thanks. God has kept us alive and healthy for His purpose."
A fun thing about church is that after the first hour of being on our feet and singing and jumping around. When we sit down for the second hour of preaching, it's very warm and humid lots of times people get drowsy and Pastor will just randomly say, "Maranatha!" And everyone will stand to their feet and say, "Christ is coming!" The first Sunday they did it when Jim and I were there, we were a little behind everyone else but we have caught on.
It reminds me every day to be thankful for my life and to be mindful that God has kept me alive and healthy for His purpose.
Another fun thing about church is that when the person gets up there to do the announcements he says, "It's announcement time." And the congregation responds, "It's good news time." And then when it's offering time the person gets up there and says, "It's offering time." And the congregation responds, "It's giving time."
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