everyone needs a little Grace in their lives: Those Privileged Kids

When you grow up as a child of expatriates--even "lowly" missionaries--your reality is one of privilege.

You have a passport from a country that opens almost every other country's door, worldwide. Visiting places like Istanbul and Johannesburg are normal to you. Oh, and Dubai. Because everybody has been to Dubai.

You soak in all the sites and beauty and culture of your host country, but are insulated from many of its problems.

You witness poverty up close, but you don't live in it yourself.

You grow up knowing children of many different backgrounds, colors, and languages, yet unlike your peers in your host country, you have every college option available to you.

Your education is the same quality as what you would get in your parents' country, but with the added bonuses of trips to the rainforest and the tide pools. Masai warriors come and sing for your first grade class, and if the soccer tournament just happens to be in Uganda, you get to go to Uganda. After all, flying to another country (as cool as it is) is no big deal.

You get the best of multiple worlds in many, many ways.

And like most kids in the world, you think your normal is normal. You don't even realize how privileged you are.

Last month, Lily spent a week in the frolicking in the rainforest. Grace got to go with her varsity soccer team to Uganda. Next month, we take all our kids to a conference in South Africa--for the second time. And I think to myself, What is this crazy amazing life my kids are getting? Do they have any idea how extraordinary it is?

Probably not. Hopefully one day they will. They have been given an incredible childhood. I pray they don't waste it.