19. Surviving with a Survival Kit

Family vacations can be exciting, adventurous, and fun. They can also be exhausting and tiresome. You may feel you need a kit just to survive.

If a family you know is taking a vacation, create a travel survival kit for them, providing necessary items to help their trip go smoothly. Purchase a large, plain tote bag and some puff paints. Have a family night and decorate the bag, painting the words “Travel Survival Kit for the [insert family’s last name here] Family” on it. Purchase the following items to be placed in the kit:

•  A first-aid kit

•  Hand wipes

•  Treats, such as beef jerky, granola bars, cheese and crackers, and dried fruit

•  A case of bottled water

•  Books, including a Bible

•  Tablets and pencils (crayons melt in the car, so avoid including them)

•  Audio CDs, such as Focus on the Family’s Adventures in Odyssey

•  Mini-travel games. In addition to store-bought games, encourage your children to design and develop their own games for the traveling family

•  A comfy pillow

•  A map

•  A gas card

•  Discount coupons for meals or amusement parks near their destination (these can often be found online)

•  A list of important phone numbers they can contact in case of an emergency

•  Postcards and stamps for them to mail along the way

•  Disposable camera

Up for Discussion

What other items did you think to include in the survival kit? What was the response of the family when they received their travel survival kit?

Read Matt. 6:26. How does the survival of wild birds depend on God’s care? How do baby humans and baby animals depend on their parents for survival? How are sick people dependent on caregivers and medication for their survival? In a difficult situation, how can prayer make a difference for our survival? Discuss how our eternal survival depends on knowing God.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

—Matt. 6:26