My verse for last night. My sister, by the grace of God, is very very good at this: " . . . comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. . ." I Thess 5:14  (KJV21) The link is for the whole chapter. Interesting to read it in context.

Visited a church with my daughter the other day. Their youth group had a lock-in to raise money for kids overseas. They each had a specific individual with a real life challenge. One had to support their family. One was blind or lame. For the weekend one of the kids here took on that burden as they went about their lock-in activities. One had to support his  or her family and wore a heavy back pack all weekend. One wore a blind fold for a blind individual. One was lame. Opportunities for teens to grow empathy. There are probably ways to incorporate something similar into the activities of pre-adolescent and grade school kids. Maybe there's someone closer to home, in the neighborhood, or at school.

A very challenging activity would be (for families on a week when school is on vacation ) to eat like a family some where else. Go without electricity. Spend the day (or a week) without using gasoline. Live on $25 or $50 (for a week). What happens to worship if you turn off the electricity? How about the sermon? Think of a list of cultural challenges. Pick one.

We take our cultural/material existence, our health, transportation, food sources, water, the natural world - most of what we have, for granted. We have lots to be thankful for.