Hello readers! Its been awhile since I posted a blog. Trust me when I say they’re coming… I have like three written in my head. In the meantime, it is my privilege to lend my blog to one my closest friends here on the race. This is Sean Falconer and this is the only picture I have of him for some reason… Please enjoy his gracious words about some of his experience on the world race.
“Hi, I’m Sean. I’m stealing Molly’s blog because she’s been sucking it up and not posting.” ( I was instructed to open with this.)
When we were discussing ideas for ways to complete my fundraising (insert shameless plug for money here) and Molly suggested a “guest blog,” I was tickled. You people don’t know me, so I grant you that it’s a little strange.
Molly and I became fast friends in part due to the fact that we had similar life experience: degrees in Anthropology, work at a Residential treatment center, and an introverted streak that runs deep. We both sort of Facebook stalked each other after learning a little about the other, and mutually arrived at the conclusion, “Yep, you’re okay. We can be friends,” Watching her grow through this process has been a privilege, and I am profoundly blessed that she has been a part of my journey as well.
The Race throws you into a instant pressure cooker. You take the days as they come, and you’re never quite sure what that will look like. At this point, our squad is the oldest on the field, so we are the “senior racers.” We have settled into the rhythms of our new normal, and I like to think that most days we do just fine. That being said, homesickness for me is less about the people at home I miss, and more about missing the structure and routines that put bookends on my life.
I think Molly and I have walked a similar journey in that, although our experiences are still distinct. I know God is growing us, and I see Molly blossoming and growing. The friendship has been a fixed point in the midst of tumult. Walking out of Greece and the difficult circumstances we each faced, the mental shorthand that our little cadre of Racers has developed was deeply beneficial in processing those experiences. God has slowly and methodically picked apart our frameworks for how we view the world and our relationship with Him, but He graciously gave us friends to walk through that with.
I have been blessed to be both a giver and receiver in our friendship. As someone who struggles with trust and letting people into my inner world, it’s a rare gift to be able to interact with another without any sense of pretense; to be able to just sit in your mess and the brokenness of life with a friend is an unexpected blessing. It has been supremely satisfying to have the friendship grow. Molly is a staunch advocate and an insightful critic, and the giftings God has placed inside her have been a benefit to me and to the people around us. I learn from her in the midst of intensely wonky and weird life circumstances, and I truly feel as though iron sharpens iron in this dynamic.
Molly loves, and she loves hard. The unspoken understanding we have -that we are friends and friends can still love each other even if they don’t always agree- is something puzzling to a fair number of our peers. That we can passionately and heatedly debate an issue or thought and at the end of it remain friends, go for coffee, and pursue Christ in the midst of life’s vagaries is a quandary to some, but to us, it’s just life. That’s just what friends do, and I like to think that a friendship like that exemplifies Christ.
Good friends will go deodorant shopping with you; best friends will give you one of the ones they brought from home, knowing that neither of you cares if you smell like women’s deodorant. Yeah, it’s weird, but nobody cares, and life goes on. I didn’t have friendships like this before the race, but I know that I will have more like it afterwards. My friendship with Molly, and a half-dozen others like it, assure me of that.
Our fast friendship has been a true gift. I hope you enjoyed reading about his experiences. Please prayerfully consider donating to his world race journey as he still needs about $1290 to go to Malaysia with the rest of our squad. To give or to learn more about Sean, you can check out his blog at seanfalconer.theworldrace.org.
(Sean is the one poking his head behind Jordyn and me)
