I can't bring myself to write about our last couple of days yet, so I'll continue capturing some other stories from the journey.
Before we ever left home, people would ask us things like, "what are you most looking forward to?" I really couldn't answer that -- there was too much goodness. One afternoon though, it came to me. I was really looking forward to all the people we would connect with -- getting to hear their stories, and, telling them ours.
We've gotten pretty good at this in the last couple of years -- and even more so in the last couple of months. To make sure you understand why this matters so much to us, let's go back a bit.
5 years ago, Jason and I were both going through divorces. In fact, its that very thing that connected us. We'd known each other for many (many) years -- having met in college back in 1994. we processed the loss and the grief in a very similar way. Namely, we went through a very dark, scary, ugly time where we didn't want to talk about it at all. With anyone, really. I don't want to oversimplify coming out of that period but for both of us we just eventually walked out of the storm and seemingly suddenly, we could see the sun again.
Connecting with each other was so fun. And, as I catch myself often saying now, nothing feels as good as feeling good again. You just experience joy and happiness so much more strongly when you've felt despair. We were happy -- and we were happy to tell our story.
And then something interesting happened. Jason quit his job, ending a 15 year career in finance. This could be its own blog post but the reason I bring it up today is to highlight what then happened to his "story". He didn't want to tell it. So much so that he would get annoyed when asked. This made us notice something. When you meet someone for the first time, if they ask you two questions the second question (after asking your name) is always, "what do you do?" It never occurred to either of us that this question could be hard or unwanted. (side bar -- and don't even get me started on the fact that when people met the 2 of us, they'd ask him what he did and not ask me. What is this, 1950?)
While he wasn't working, he didn't want to be defined by that. This is Jason, the guy who doesn't have a job or know what he wants to do. He was so much more than that. Don't boil him down to a single sentence that does not reflect either his character or his ambition.
It gave us pause. What should the second question be? If you truly want to understand who someone is, in a sentence, what is the question that solicits that response? And it is worth thinking about, because 99% of the time, do you really care if someone is a marketing analyst at X company? Not in the least. Wouldn't you rather know what their character is? What makes them happy? What they feel their life's work is or will be?
It took awhile to get through that time, but before long, Jason found himself back on the pathway that all the sudden was so obvious we couldn't believe we didn't see it before. Isn't life funny that way? And, even better -- after months of anguish and people avoiding -- there was again a story he wanted to tell. Interesting how life repeats itself. We often say it as though God lets us go through the lesson until we get it.
Of course, I'm biased-- but I love Jason's story. Beyond that, I love that he loves to tell it -- because I saw the painful journey to get there. But it isn't unique -- if you've spent time asking people about their story, you know that there is no story better to listen to than one in which the person loves their current life/work/family/situation. It warms your heart and lets you see hope come alive while they are telling it. You'll think about it for days to come. Sometimes -- sometimes it even changes your own trajectory.
And so, here we are trapped on a boat for 31 days with 3000 crew and guests. Untold number of times to tell our story. How do you tell it in about 5 minutes? That's really all the time you'll hold someone's attention in a first conversation.
Unless you're an urban farmer with zero farming experience who walked away from a 15 year finance career to work for a small, local non-profit because you love people and you trust God's plan better than any plan you could make for yourself.
You tell that story and people will listen for a long time.
It's a great story with so many fun details. We've talked for hours with people because there is something about it that jars them from a long slumber. I think at our core, all people want to be connected to doing a greater good. People are drawn to serve. We spent 1.5 hours on a fishing boat in Lake Michigan talking with the deck hand about farming and serving the community. We spent an entire lunch in the dining room somewhere in the South Pacific talking to a stock broker from South Africa about feeding the poor quality, healthful food. We sat for part of an evening in an art gallery talking about how incredible it is to walk towards something you are called to do even when it is scary and hard and people think you are weird and making a dumb choice. We've talked with a massage therapist numerous times now who always, always wants to know what's growing in the farm and always ends by asking to come help. He just wants to learn.
And sometimes, we get to talk about deeper things. The career change is interesting. The farming is interesting. Serving the "least of these" is interesting. But to us, why we do it is the best story of all.
Jason always finds himself right in the middle of God conversations and he couldn't be more miserable when it happens. Mostly, because he thinks he's terrible at it. I always tell him that he's really the best I've ever heard because he just answers whatever is asked as truthfully as he can. And, it helps that he is unfailingly kind. Never trying to force a point or even "win" an argument. Merely sharing what his life is and has been and why.
Our lives are living testimonies to a God who has always been on our side and wanted the best for us. It's never guaranteed an easy life and, for sure, we haven't had easy lives. As we get older, it's easier to look back and be able to connect the dots and see where God intervened because he loves us well.
And while we have lots and lots of good stories, there's none better than that one.
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