I just found this article while browsing the WP about a boy who travels extensively with his parents. There's no indication why, but they did mention their trip to Africa over the summer was a vacation. It prompted this boy to do something amazing!!
T and I have talked over the years about when we might be ready to take the girls along on one of our summer missions trips. Many times I wince at the idea of exposing them to cultures so different from ours at young ages. Many people do this frequently, and I think it's great for children. For now, it wouldn't be frequent for our children, so I don't really know how I feel about this. This story gave me a bit of encouragement because I can see that kids can make such a positive impact when given a vision for something that really matters to them.
It's important, living in suburbia, that we cultivate some kind of compassion and passion in our children that reaches well beyond our comfortable, lavish lifestyles. Unfortunately, getting caught up in the "lavish" lifestyles we often begin to think of them as just the opposite. How are we going to demonstrate to our children that life in 90% of the rest of the world is just not like ours? I guess we have to take them there and get those wheels turning, just like this boy. I applaud these parents, no matter what the purpose of this trip, that they weren't afraid to expose their child to different cultures, poverty and encourage his pursuit of improving lives around the world.
T and I have talked over the years about when we might be ready to take the girls along on one of our summer missions trips. Many times I wince at the idea of exposing them to cultures so different from ours at young ages. Many people do this frequently, and I think it's great for children. For now, it wouldn't be frequent for our children, so I don't really know how I feel about this. This story gave me a bit of encouragement because I can see that kids can make such a positive impact when given a vision for something that really matters to them.
It's important, living in suburbia, that we cultivate some kind of compassion and passion in our children that reaches well beyond our comfortable, lavish lifestyles. Unfortunately, getting caught up in the "lavish" lifestyles we often begin to think of them as just the opposite. How are we going to demonstrate to our children that life in 90% of the rest of the world is just not like ours? I guess we have to take them there and get those wheels turning, just like this boy. I applaud these parents, no matter what the purpose of this trip, that they weren't afraid to expose their child to different cultures, poverty and encourage his pursuit of improving lives around the world.
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