Some days I want to leave it all behind and go off again and really do the dirty work

This is what my dear friend and fellow pastor said to me tonight as we talked about the two movies we had recently seen. I had just seen Babel and she watched The Constant Gardener. We both share a heart for mission -- though her experience living with and serving the people of Bosnia for four years trumps my experience in Applachia. Nonetheless, we both love being in mission. We both love service and we share a common belief that poverty is unacceptable. So, we we talk tonight, she says this to me. "Some days I want to leave it all behind and go off again and really do the dirty work." And she's right. It's the same dream that I have -- even though I just got into this parish gig. There are always days that I wish that I was doing the "real" work (mind you, it's all real work).

So, she starts to tell me about this project founded by a Disciple pastor. The work is quite simple. No matter who you are, come to this Tucson-based ministry and head out into the desert to give water to those that would otherwise die without it. That's it. We decided that we would go whenever we could both get some time off from our other "real" work. And if you are as mission minded as we are, you should too.

Oh, and go to the website at http://www.humaneborders.org/ and if you are like me, you will start crying at the amazing witness of this simple ministry.