Without going into a lot of detail, my sudden interest in South American comes from this: my 20-year-old son decided that before he heads back to college this Fall, he's taking a 3-week trip South America.

His mother and I were not thrilled to hear this news, but Sean is a mature, level-headed young man.

He's also an adult and we couldn't stop him (our favorite parenting tool, absolute authority, expired when Sean became 18).

So without warning I developed a keen interest in all things South American. And you know what I learned?

The world is a personal place.

We often don't care about people and locations because they don't seem to have any personal bearing on our lives. All it takes is an announcement from one's child to change all that.

We'll be paying attention to the news from South America for the next 3 weeks. And if you're a praying person, perhaps you'll remember Sean Edwards in your prayers, asking for a safe trip for him and his friends.