This is the first international trip that I've taken in a while without Laura. She could have come part way, but one of the places I'm headed is in the news all the time and the US is just getting ready to pull out units that have been there for quite a while, only to face a situation that remains chaotic at best, and tragic all too often.
Going someplace like that (without Laura!) has reminded us of how our choices often separate us from others. We live in a culture where choice is good, and I've even used the phrase that being well-to-do means having choices where others don't. (I am learning it also means having a stewardship of resources that have little value unless they are used, so deciding when to use and when to hold becomes a huge challenge.)
Lots of people facing poverty or danger would gladly step away if they could. For others, just being around folks like this can be painful in itself. We are called to mourn with those who mourn, but facing problems that don't "fix" can be wearying for all of us, no matter what our motives.
All the same, for many people it is the personal, face to face, heart language connection that matters more than some message from far away, whether that distance is physical, emotional, or even cultural and linguistic. It is for that reason that people go to show love face to face. In a small way, it is also for that face to face connection that I go to show love to such people face to face, even if I have to leave Laura behind for a few weeks, suffer through jet lag, spend money, not be at my best, and other such vagaries.
So keep us in your thoughts and intercession, and also think of those who, just because they were born in a chaotic, tough environment that most of us would rather avoid, may not receive face to face loving care unless people who have the choice spend some of their funds, emotional capital, relational energies, and so on in order to be in that chaotic, tough environment alongside them, no matter how hard or frustrating it might be.
With love in the one who keeps us, Steve and Laura
PS If you think of it, give a shout out to Laura, who will be spending this mother's day which is also her birthday, without me. This trip will be about three weeks.
Steve and Laura Spinella
street: 1930 Springcrest Rd, CO Springs 80920
mail: 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920
Steve cell 719.355.4809, Laura cell 832.755.4261
TEAM, PO Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187, 800 343-3144
<spinella@alumni.rice.edu> <lauraspinella@alumni.rice.edu>
TEAM, PO Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187, 800 343-3144
<spinella@alumni.rice.edu> <lauraspinella@alumni.rice.edu>
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