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It takes such courage and discipline to live true integrity moment to moment. Honesty and openness in the moment is achingly vulnerable. It doesn’t allow for manipulation or control, but it does allow for intimacy, love, and sometimes even magical moments of transformation.
Thanksgiving 2008. My family went to my sister’s in Boston and I stayed home to work on my grad school and to attend youth ministry events that I had scheduled for around Thanksgiving. There was no way I was spending the holiday with my still-less-than-5-years divorced parents, 4 siblings, plus a friend or two, all staying in my sister’s home in Boston. That was too many people in a too small space. But see, I found out from my sister …
There’s a story I once heard, a story of a man. Jacob was a good man, a kind man; all the people in the town would bring their animals to him and he would tend to the sicknesses. One day, Jacob heard a knock on his door, and when he went to answer it, all he saw was a wrapped up large package on his doorway. Jacob looked out to the trees and nodded his head in acknowledgment and gratitude, for …
The front of the piggy bank from Juan Carlos has a woman who is wearing a traditional headdress. A woman actually showed us how to wrap it around her head while we were sightseeing one of our last days in Guatemala. Juan Carlos picked this bank because of that memory. The back of the coin commemorates the liberation of Guatemala, in 1827. Juan Carlos had shared with our group the story of the coin; although Andres was our guide, Juan …
Nearly 6 months ago, I journeyed to Guatemala with International Samaritan , an organization that specifically works with those who live in garbage dump communities. There are several places where I’ve written about life in the garbage dump: here , and here , and here are some of them. When I left, I knew that more than the effect I would have on the people (through building roofs, working with kids, etc), the transformation in my own life would be immeasurable. I gave the gift …
