I greatly enjoyed being able to go down to Mexico on the annual FUEL Agua Viva Mexico trip last week. We participated in some construction and demolition efforts, ate some delicious fish tacos, and spent time playing with various children, among other things. We spent about four or five hours on the last day hanging out with migrant children at a sort of block party that we set up. As the sun beat down on us, I noticed a great difference between these kids and my own children.

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I have talked recently about how we spend our labor and how we are internally wired. These topics are not solely didactic; they are accurate representations of how I have been thinking. I suppose there has been a rumbling inside of me to change. I have been long in prayer and thought about what to modify about my employ and God has graciously answered.

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Mandy and I have been watching the classic “Fiddler on the Roof” over the past few days. While I typically shy away from musicals, I have always liked this particular one. I have memories of singing some of the ditties with my father as a child. One song creeps up constantly throughout the movie — the song Tradition! The song speaks of the various traditions that the Jews in Russia adhere to. A theme of the movie, though, is the breaking of tradition.

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I simply enjoy the analogy that we, as humans, are all wired up. Each one of us is unique, yet we are all similar. The concept of a collection of wires inside each of us is helpful in portraying the core of who we are. These are not so much character traits that we can modify, but rather defining pieces of us. I am wired up to enjoy flying in airplanes, to be competitive, and to enjoy public speaking, for example. There are others who may share that wiring; there are many who do not. I have arrived at a dilemma, though: is it possible to be wired up for something that is wrong?

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