Presby-Musings

In 2007, while on an epic trip to London and Paris for our anniversary, Merideth and I found ourselves in the middle of a huge crowd outside the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.  Hundreds of police officers held the crowd at bay as large limousines pulled up.   "I think that is Jacques Chirac!" I stage whispered to Merideth as the then President of France emerged from one of the vehicles.  "What is going on here?"   A lady turned around and said to us in perfect English.  "It's the funeral of Abbe Pierre.  He was a famous priest, a man beloved by the people for his work with the homeless."  We chatted together for a bit about his work, and she shared with us that almost all of the services and resources for the homeless in Paris had their origins in work that Abbe Pierre had accomplished.   I learned later that Abbe Pierre was born into a wealthy family, but dedicated his life to ministry and service. After World War II the streets of Pa...

  I used to lead this mission trip to Mexico every year.  I think I must have led close to 8 trips--all to a small, very poor area just outside of Tijuana.  Unlike so many mission trips with Christian groups, we chose to really and truly embed our groups within the community rather than stay somewhere "safe" and then be bussed in to do work. We felt pretty superior about our approach to missions, actually.  We were proud of our humility. Then there was one trip where My friend Brian and I were the project leaders for a pretty large roof repair job.  Homes in the suburbs of Tijuana are not exactly constructed with simple roof repair in mind.  This one was no exception.  The family who lived there had added rooms to their house over the years when they were able to afford it and when they had materials.  We arrived to "fix" their roof, which was leaking badly and we had plenty of money and materials to spare.  We also had a lot of bright, ...