Stuff

Stuff I am excited about ~

• I finished four weeks of daily radiation yesterday. Another step closer to putting this cancer business behind me.
• Tomorrow I fly to New Orleans to participate in my first Churchwide assembly, and just learned a friend will be there too.
• Thanks to the gift of some miles from my sister-in-law, I get to return a day early for more time with Adventure Girl before she travels to Madagascar.

Stuff I am wrestling with ~

We have a garage full of stuff after a sump pump failure resulted in a very wet basement. The Storvick flood of 2016 would be far easier to clean up if we had less stuff. So we have been handed a chance to unload. A long overdue lesson I keep learning. So I have been thinking about stuff as I pack for New Orleans. As I try to travel lighter than usual (not my nature!), Erika shared her packing list and preparation letter for her upcoming year. My bag for one week will be similar in size to hers. For eleven months. Because of her destination, and the goals of mission work, she is challenged to consider very thoughtfully what she will need and how she can live in the same style as the community in which she will serve. What stuff just represents privilege? What stuff is needed to dress professionally and respectfully? What stuff sets you apart and what helps you relate?

I was impressed by the thought-provoking scenarios presented, challenging the volunteers to begin considering how they will live differently, and what it can mean to live simply, as they follow God’s call to serve in a strikingly different culture. Sure puts packing for a week in perspective. We are all going to learn much from her experiences.

Jon pointed out I get a full week sans medical appointments. Life-giving stuff, but I will not miss my oncology friends. I am looking forward to a week of thinking about a different sort of life-giving work as two or three gather in Christ’s name. Well, okay, more like a thousand . . .