I noticed the guy in the Istanbul Starbucks reading a newspaper. A full-sized newspaper. When I started journaliing about that, wondering if Turkish people really do like their news better or what poor guy got laid off just to keep the paper that size, I realized I was either in extreme shock or I was OK with God’s plans for me.
I’ve since decided it’s because I’m trusting.
We’d been asked by our squad leaders to have a couple of hours of silence after they’d made the announcement that there were going to be team changes. I went to Starbucks to journal about finding out that the people I’d become family with over the past three months were not my teammates anymore. The people I’d shared meals with, worked alongside and yes, shared my story with were no longer going to be a part of my daily life. Colin Langston is the only former teammate who’s on my new team.
I suppose the thought of extreme shock sounds dramatic to people back home, but these people become your family in a short amount of time. I cried, but I chose to not fight it. But although I love my new team very much, with the change comes an ever present battle–being open and vulnerable.
It was in Ireland, on my birthday, that I shared my story with my former teammates. I’d been fighting God on that since the beginning. I didn’t understand the point of bringing up the past if I was looking forward to the future.
And now I have to do it all over again. And I don’t wanna.
Funny coming from the person whose passion it is to share stories. Yours, yes. Mine, heck no. I don’t like it. I don’t want to.
But then I’m forced to think about the importance of my birthday this year and how when I shared my story with my former teammates, it paved the way for everyone else to share theirs. I was open and honest and they, in turn, were open and honest with me. And that is why I cried to leave people I’d only known for a few months.
My dream is to have everyone share and hear each other’s stories. I believe that when we understand where others come from, what they’ve overcome and the redemption they’ve experienced Kingdom comes to earth. We know how to love each other. We know how to respect each other, and ultimately we become family.
And this is my new family, Team Chrysalis.
Jodi Greenlee, team leader
