My Family Culture

Imagine the following:
A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

Three items that I would take with me:

1. Bible - Our family is built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.  Without Him we would be nothing.  We hold the Bible very near and dear to our hearts and lives and recognize the importance of being in The Word on a daily basis.

2.  Laptop Computer - Our computer holds almost every detail of our lives: medial records, financial records, important documents, family photos from the past 10+ years, recipes handed down from family that have gone on before us, genealogy information and documents, and the list goes on.  Technology has really played a major role in our lives and is an easy way to store a lot of information that otherwise would take up a lot of space in the filing cabinet.

3.  Family Item - I'm not entirely sure what my choice would be here.  My husband and I both have many quilts and knick-knacks that have been handed down to us from our grandparents that represent our families.  I think that I would have to be "in the moment" to choose which one really holds the most meaning and value.  I would definitely grab one of these items though in hopes that we could hand them down to the next generation some day.

If I was told on arrival that I could only keep one personal item I would be devastated.  All the items hold a lot of value and meaning.  However, I would make the decision to keep our Bible as the other two items are material possessions that - in the end - won't really matter as much as God's Word.

As I considered items to take along I had to throw aside many ideas that came rushing to mind simply because the more I thought about it the more I realized that many of the items are things that can be bought all over the world.  Cell phones, clothing, shoes, dishes, cameras.... they are all things that I could very easily replace no matter where I end up.  Though many cultures are very different than my own, many devices are universal.