I have always had close relationships with Americans. I have relatives in New England, like most people who live in my region. Our countries’ economies are interdependent. We can not ignore each other.

As I was flying home last week after a month away, I looked at the little plane landing emoji I sent to loved ones to let them know I arrived, and I remembered a word from another time in my life.

Can we agree that checking in on our loved ones and reminding them we love them can be enough?

As these disasters often do, they intersect with the environment, government, and marginalized people.

We need your help to be the safe place people land when they are leaving high control religion or looking for others with the same questions about faith in their lives.

A reward in heaven, frankly, doesn’t mean much to me in the face of so much suffering in my present. That being said, I am grateful that Jesus places me and us in the line of the persecuted prophets, and that by being “blessed,” God’s solidarity with us is assured.