We found ourselves in a very frustrating holding pattern at this point in the story. (I can’t help but laugh at it now. There have been SO MANY holding patterns since this period of time. And a moment of complete honesty: our lives before this adventure were so busy, scheduled… predictable… that waiting didn’t really exist. Even if we put something before the Lord, our petitions weren’t consistent because there were so many other balls to juggle in life. But, living your life in such a way where almost everything depends on the Lord… when your prayers aren’t scheduled, but are a constant flow from your lips throughout the day… it changes how you see this life. It changes how you see your purpose as a child of God, a servant of the Lord. But, we were about to embark on the most trying season of our lives because EVERYTHING depended on waiting…on Him. Even now, we have no idea where we’re going to be in a month. We are going through our savings faster than we want. We are praying for the Lord to make the next step clear. Some nights I can’t sleep. I wonder if I missed something. Would things we different if we were more faithful in some area of our lives?
But, then I remember that He is always faithful, no matter my lack of faithfulness. (Plus, that line of thinking in a form of prosperity gospel, or Christianized karma. Following with Jesus doesn’t work that way.)
We had two weeks before Sydney’s last show in Georgia and no idea how we were going to fill it. (But, the Lord did.) We decided to head down to Alabama to visit another one of my Noonday friends. I went to Uganda several years ago with Melody. We were actually roommates. She and her husband have a wonderful ministry called LIFE Ministries and meeting with them came at the absolute right time.
We met Melody and her husband, Randy, at a local Chick-fil-A in outside of Birmingham. Our time with them was so short, but for the first time since we had been on the road, someone looked at Jamie and I and said, “How is your marriage?” I remember wanting to cry and fighting to hold back the tears. It’s such a simple question, but so profound. Truth be told, our marriage was great. The only time our marriage MIGHT have been better was during our time church planting in Rhode Island. Almost nine months in, our family is closer than ever. But, our time with Randy and Melody helped prepare us for the trials ahead.
Randy hammered home the importance of protecting our marriage. He asked probing questions about our personalities and communication styles, how we handle conflict and prioritize time away as a couple and as individuals. At this point in the adventure, we were still trying to figure out how six people (and a dog) can live in 300 sq. ft. without killing one another. We were winging it, so to speak. But, that wasn’t a strategy for longevity. Randy knew we needed to be proactive in protecting our family in order to give us the best chance of thriving in an absolutely chaotic existence.
The verdict might still be out…but we’re still at it and no one had died yet. I’m counting that as a success.
While in Birmingham, I also made a new, and unlikely, friend… at a local Starbucks. SURPRISE! I had dropped Sydney off at the gym to work out while I went across the street to write. But, I got absolutely no writing done that day. Almost immediately after sitting down and taking our my laptop, this older man took a seat near me. As a die-hard people watcher, this individual intrigued me from the moment he sat down.
First, I’m pretty sure this man knew absolutely everyone who walked into that Starbucks location. (Maybe this is why I was drawn to him! He was ME!!!) This man, Wayne, sat down right next to the table with milk dispensers ands sugar packets… right smack-dab in the path of all the foot traffic, and EVERY SINGLE PERSON STOPPED TO TALK TO HIM. I couldn’t stop laughing. Eventually, he turned to ask WHY I was laughing! Which made me laugh even more.
Over the course of the next hour, I sat with a man who is about as Republican as they come. We talked about politics, abortion, immigration, gun laws. You name it, I asked him his thoughts. And we disagreed more than we agreed. But, here’s the beauty of this conversation: Wayne gave me permission to push back on some of his views… and even conceded to some of my points. And better yet, I gave him the same permission and he pushed back on some of my views… and I conceded to some of his points.
I walked away from my time with Wayne with a renewed sense of hope. We became friends on Facebook, but the request came with one IMPORTANT caveat: I told him that, inevitably, I would post something he doesn’t agree with, politically speaking. I asked him to push against any inclination to “unfriend” me, and, instead, enter into a conversation… offering a different perspective.
Six months later, we’re still friends on Facebook. And we recently found out that we also share the same birthday! I’m convinced that isn’t a coincidence. The Lord is constantly showing us that our connections in faith run deeper than our differences in politics… as long as we focus on nurturing our connections in faith more than exploiting those differences.
But, six months after this meeting, we’re finding this to be increasingly more difficult.
Searching for Jesus in America 