Something I took for granted

It's Kid's Club week at Stone (aka VBS) and I filled in for one of the drivers today to transport a couple of kids to and from the church. The kids I transported come from a rough neighbourhood. I know because I used to teach at the school they go to. (side note-I don't know who thought low-income housing neighbourhoods were a good idea, but they are not - but that is another blog note completely). As they piled in the car, they were surprised that I wouldn't let any of them sit in the front seat. I'm up on the latest safety stats, any kids under 12 are going in the backseat. That debate didn't surprise me too much, but the next one did. Put on your seatbelt. I thought seatbelts were a given...I was wrong. Not only, did I have to instruct them in wearing them, I had to show one girl how and then I had to get them to put the seatbelts back on when they undid them at a stoplight to stand up in the car (yes, I said stand up) because they wanted to look for groundhogs. Other things about this relatively short car ride surprised me. Like how much they noticed the hills on the road and cried "Whee" as we went down one of them. I talked to my friend Debbie about this afterwards and she reminded me of something I just didn't think about. These kids probably have had very few trips in a car. Whereas most of us have grown up in families with one if not 2 cars, they wouldn't have one. If they are going anywhere, they go on the bus, or they walk. Debbie also shared with me about driving a lady from the churchplant to a retreat last summer. The retreat was on Deer Island which is about an hour/hour and a half away from Saint John. The lady commented to Debbie what a long trip it was. Debbie was surprised by that. Apparently this was this lady's first trip anywhere, so of course it would seem very long. To me a trip like that is a drop in the bucket. I've been so blessed to have been raised by parents who love to travel. We went all over the West Coast of the States and through the Western Canadian Provinces when I was a kid. They took us on some really big trips and I thank them for that. I'm also very blessed to be married to a man with the travel bug too. The idea of not travelling is so foreign, that I forget that some people just don't. They don't have the opportunity. And for some the idea of travelling is just so far-fetched for their lives that it just wouldn't happen. I just sit here tonight amazed once again how the Lord has so thoroughly blessed me throughout my life and I'm humbled yet again.