Sending and Receiving.

Every day, emailing, I 'send' and 'receive' at the touch of a button. It's an easy send. And an easy receive. In real life, sending and receiving are rarely simple. In fact, to be sent and to receive can be profound and intimate human actions.

Some good people in my church and in my Small Group sent me off to Sierra Leone today with prayer and blessing and hope. It meant - and means - a lot to me. I'm never sure that I receive blessing well. Or, as was the case today, I hope I received 'sending' well. In any event, it was hardly simple. There were a few tears and that too-oft-ignored catch in my throat.

It made me think about that profound story of the prodigal Father, who picks up his robes and runs out to receive his son. It made me think about Jesus, summarizing an incarnational gospel, "As my Father has sent me, so I send you." It made me think that sending and receiving are opportunities for grace. Given and received.

-JR