Tuesday, March 30, 2010

"Give Me Your Tired..."


This picture pretty much sums up how I feel about traveling. I love going to new places, I love creating or revisiting friendships, and I love, love, love other cultures. However, I do not like the process of getting there. (As my wise husband once said, "But who really does?")

On this particular trip, it was a bit of a doozie. It traversed 4 countries on its way to my destination and it lasted a couple of days. However, as tired and (maybe a little cranky) as I might have been, I had money for food, comfortable clothing, good friends who shared my culture, and an American passport.

The family that I and my small group are meeting at DIA tonight will have also made a long journey, but sadly it will not be a vacation from their comfortable home but from a refugee camp on their way to live in Denver, USA. They are Bhutanese, originally from the country of Bhutan in Asia. (Don't worry, I had to look up where they were from as well.) From the articles I read online, they were forced out of their country due to (simplified answer) racism. As a side-note, isn't it interesting that racism is such a prevalent sin of the human condition. There's that lifeboat again. And they've been granted the right to relocate to the US.

I'm excited to meet this family of five. But I am also sad for them. I pray that they will find community in Denver through us and those that live around them. I pray that they will be spared from others' ignorant actions. I pray that though they may have vastly different religious beliefs than our group, that they will see and experience Christ's redeeming love through our actions. And I'm thankful that (for all of our problems) the United States still welcomes in the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses.

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