A prayer for a bigger worldview by Kristen Welch, read by Leah Martin.

Religion that God Our Father accepts as pure and faultless as this,

to look after orphans and widows in their distress

and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,

James 127.

Nothing shakes your world like returning from a third world country that is riddled with disease and poverty.

Nothing makes you question yourself, your motives, and your

own sanity more than trying to blend your old worldview with your new. Nothing makes you want

to raise compassionate children like meeting people that the world has forgotten.

I have amazing kids. They're sweet and well-behaved most days, but they are typical American children.

They have too much.

They want things instantly and easily.

They think about themselves first. They look a lot like their parents.

After returning from my heartbreaking and hopeful trip to Africa, I knew I had to change the way we lived. I wasn't

motivated by guilt. I was moved by compassion. My kids love to play Follow the Leader. They follow their

parents. We've just been showing them the American view. Bigger houses, nicer cars, more toys, and fitting God into all that stuff.

On a Saturday, I explained to my kids that we would be giving up the occasional house cleaner who made our life easier.

I taught them to clean toilets.

Why are we doing this again? my daughter asked.

I pointed to the faces of the four

children were sponsoring through Compassion International, smiling down from their

pictures on our refrigerator. She wiped a strand of hair from her eyes, nodded, and went back to scrubbing.

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