(xaris and shalom)

There's always just one more thing There's always another task There's always I just have one more small favor to ask And everything is urgent, and everything is now I wonder what would happened if I stopped somehow And everything is important But everything is not At the end of your life, your relationships are all you've got. And love to me is when you put down that one more thing And say, "I've got something better to do" And love to me is when you walk out on that one more thing And say, "Nothing will come between me and you" Not even one more thing. [from Just One More Thing  by Sara Groves] At the end of Moses' life, after he has reiterated the law to the Israelite people, he says,  Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day,  so that you may command  your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.     They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. When I think about laws and rules, I usual

I think I have also realized that saying  goodbye  in China doesn't necessarily mean saying  goodbye  forever.   [email update from a friend] It's true. But it's hard to convince myself it's true. Still, today I'm opening browsers to double check bus schedules and texting a former teammate.  Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Chicago to spend a week reunion-ing with people who I studied with in China.  It's kind of shocking. It's kind of awesome. We said goodbyes to some of our group in Xiamen, then traveled through Hong Kong and back to LAX together.  But for the most part, we didn't really say goodbye to each other.  After we finally got through customs, we were all split up and had to rush off to catch our flights.  I hadn't really expected us to stay in touch much.  And we haven't all kept in contact.  But this past fall, one of the guys kept persistently texting me and leaving voicemails until we finally got hold of each other. "We ne