On a personal note, I faced more trouble from sickness and difficulty relating than trauma or violence, but I feel that it was worth the risks and the challenges. I got to journey together for a time with brothers and sisters who, by choice, leave behind family, friends, and relative comfort and security in order to care for and suffer with people they love.
Bearing in mind that I only visited for a short while, don't speak the local languages, and only went because I was invited by people who have stayed much longer and invested deeply in languages and relationships, here are some impressions:
1) The history of conflict upon conflict has brought much heartache, loss, destruction, and dislocation. People long for peace, prosperity, and favor with people and powers in this world and beyond.
2) Within this context, there is also hope and change, reflected by new construction, urbanization, new openness, and new patterns of life. While there is much uncertainty and we don't know what the future holds, there is room for hope and reason to pursue all that is good with both caution and courage.
3) People who willingly contribute their time, their energy, their health, and perhaps even their lives, can make a tremendous contribution in situations like this, but it comes at a great price, suffering with those who suffer, enduring hardships and often trauma (including the presence of death or fear of it), and being humbled by misunderstandings, challenges, and sometimes opposition.
4) Such desperate times do not take away the ordinary challenges of life, but add to them. There are still traffic accidents, cancers, moral failures, toxic secrets, and every other sort of challenge right down to ordinary misunderstandings and misimpressions, just less available energy and resources to address them (and perhaps shorter tempers and more generalized stress and anxiety.)
Yesterday we were sobered by a very near reminder, now called the Black Forest Fire. We are not in personal danger. However some close friends are staying upstairs as I write, having watched their house in flames on the news. Yesterday they left home for a meeting together and when they heard about the fire, it was already too late to return. The images (http://denver.cbslocal.com/video/8980930-at-least-10-homes-burn-in-black-forest-fire/) left little hope that anything they did not happen to have in their car will be left to salvage. As we walked last night and looked at the smoke clouds, our friend said, "That's my stuff in that cloud of smoke and ash."
They have a hope that goes beyond this life, but the waves of grief will be coming for a long time all the same.
Both of these experiences, on the far side of the world and close to home, leave us with a sober awareness. We can sometimes walk with each other through the valley of the shadow of death, but we cannot take away fear and loss. It is important that we make good choices in our journeys, but we are still vulnerable, and those who suffer can only face the present, and this is best done and perhaps only possible because of the one who journeys with us.
"Even when I must walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff reassure me."
.With love from just southwest of the Black Forest fire, Steve and Laura
PS Are you or would you like to be one of those people I described in the second paragraph? If so, let us know, we would love to help you in your journey!
Steve 7193554809, Laura 8327554261, 9685 Otero Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, TEAM.org
--
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>
--
--
This is an email list for friends of Steve and Laura...
To reply to a posting, send email to steve.spinella@gmail.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to TEAMspinella-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
To see past emails, pictures, et al, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/TEAMspinella?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TEAMspinella" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to teamspinella+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
