Sometime's an e-mail from someone you only barely met can be a good push to get through a day. I got an e-mail from Bart Campolo who I have mentioned in some previous posts after I heard him speak the Youth Retreat here in Illinois. He doesn't really know me at all but we have had some similar experiences and we can encourage one another through that. His e-mail wasn't long, but it didn't need to be. I am thankful for people and communities that are trying hard to live out the gospel and encouraging each other while they do. In part of the e-mail he said this:
It sounds like you’re doing great stuff, but I hope you have a community there to support you in doing it. This people loving stuff is really a team sport. On that same note, I hope you will feel free to contact me again if there is ever some way I can be helpful to you. I don’t know everything, but I know lots of good people all over the place who are into this kind of lifestyle and eager to encourage you newbies!
It made me pause and think about the community I have and if I want more in community. I have been blessed with some great friends here in Illinois that are there to listen to my endless stories about my kids, or there to just watch a movie when I need a break from it all, there to have deep conversations or just silly ones to have a good laugh. Then I have my US-2 Missionary community who are all going through what I am, but just all over the country. They are always there to talk and even when it might be months and months inbetween phone convo's it seems like no time has passed.
I do sometimes feel that I seek more in a community...
Communities like The Simple Way, The Rutba House, other monastic communities and the community Bart lives in...
They appeal to me...
I'm still pondering this...
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