This column was the featured commentary on UPI’s Religion and Spirituality Forum on October 22, 2007
At a recent gathering of fellow Presbyterians I learned that foster parents for unaccompanied minor refugees are in very short supply in the San Francisco Bay Area. These are kids under the age of eighteen who have been separated from their families by the chaos of war, and the county where I live–Santa Clara County in California–is among the few places in the United States where such refugee children are being resettled.
My wife and I currently are being trained in the art of foster parenting for a refugee child, and folks tell us we’re crazy, but bringing such a young person into our home seems like a good thing for us to do. Continue reading ‘A Refugee Proposal’
Tongues of Fire
This column was published on UPI’s Religion and Spirituality Forum on October 29, 2007.
I’ve spent the last week worrying about fires in San Diego County. Last Monday my mother-in-law woke me up with a phone call at six in the morning. “Don’t worry about us,” she said, “we’re fine, but you’d better call your aunt.”
I didn’t know what she was talking about. I still hadn’t seen the news of the growing fires that ended up devastating the communities in San Diego County where my wife’s parents and my mother’s sister live, but I found out quickly and for several days I was unable to keep my mind at home in San Jose. My wife’s childhood stomping grounds were on fire. All told, four homes belonging to members of our extended family were endangered by the fires. Thankfully, everyone in my family survived the fires without losing any property.
But many, many people were not so lucky. Continue reading ‘Tongues of Fire’