Buckle up! This a long blog, all started from a small Facebook post turned essay. I wrote it impulsively and decided to post it against my better judgement. If ya read it then we must be real pals, and if not I don’t really blame you. If you make it to the bottom I hope the nonsense story at the beginning proves worth the read. Enjoy the way my spastic brain works!
I am not going to lie, I am currently sitting in this little coffee shop in a rural village in southern Cambodia, sipping an iced coffee, crying and eating mini Goldfish (aka escaping the heat). The tears are nor happy nor sad, they are just tears. I’ll admit it’s a pretty strange site to see a tall white girl, or giant in Cambodia, sitting by herself crying, in no other than a village where a white person is already a rare siting. I’ve gotten really weird looks, but that’s nothing new, actually it has become my normal the last 8 and a half months. At first glance, I always look different than everyone around me (well, besides the other 20 people traveling with me).
Anyways, where was I? Life was all fine and dandy. I was throwing the Goldfish back, enjoying my ICED coffee, jamming to the coolest dude himself, Will Reagan, all while exploring things I don’t need on Amazon. This adventure day was going quite perfect. But all of a sudden I just started crying. (That’s not abnormal, I’m pretty darn emotional on the reg.) It started as a few tears but progressed quickly, where I am pretty sure you could hear me sniffling and see me wiping the snot that was running down my face. Yeah, gross, but remember I told you it was quite the site – I wasn’t kidding. I feared making eye contact with the locals but decided to risk it for the biscuit (what the heck does that even mean), so I looked up to see if anyone was staring at me, to my surprise I only made eye contact with 8 of the 10 people sitting in here – to be fair the other 2 had their backs to me. Geez, I keep derailing. My bad. So, why in the world were you crying, you ask.
I was shaken up sometime between browsing new books and pondering life. I had this random moment of time where I just started thinking about what has impacted me the most the last 8 and a half months. This isn’t an uncommon question that I’ve been asked to ponder, since I am coming to the end and people want to know. I thought I needed to have this super profound answer, but it took nearly a whole half second to confidently choose my answer; people.
Heck, I meet people every day in the States, and to be honest, people impact me in a huge way there, too. I just love people, ok. If you know me, you probably know that and also that I am not particularly fond of animals – which makes me even more of a people person.
However, there is something so special to traveling to places far from home, into different countries, different continents, different cultures, different worlds, per se, and still share connection with another human. Sometimes that connection comes at unexpected moments, in super bizarre situations, with the most unlikely people. Sometimes they turn into lifelong friendships or they don’t, but either way they are special. These connections have looked like befriending baristas where I spend my sabbath and adventure days, sharing chia tea and sweet conversations every night with a family in Kenya, encouraging a missionary serving long term in Thailand, or it could look like buying fruit from the fruit lady down the street. They are little moments in the grand scheme of life, but to me they are all significant encounters. The sad truth is that I probably won’t see majority of these people I’ve met, but the impact they have had on me won’t go away that easily.
These moments have contributed to the Lord showing me how precious and sweet the relationship that I share with him is, and how much I want to share that with people. Making connections with others are where I recognize how small I am and how big God is. They are moments where the differences of how we look, where we live, and what we have, all melt away and what’s left is this precious person who God created. In those moments I find it easier to see all the ways were are similar and can connect rather than find differences. It’s special and boy, has it impacted me.
So, yeah, people have been the most impactful part of this journey. All the types of people, all of God’s children. They are lovely. They are worth the awkwardness of breaking through the surface differences that we face. They are beyond special to my heart. Every single person I’ve met, each interactions I’ve had, the stories and testimonies I’ve heard, the deep love I’ve experienced, the friendships that were formed have all led me to this place of seeing people truly as God’s children – I don’t ever want to go back to seeing people as anything besides that.
I thought I loved people before, but now I have found an even more rich love for connection and relationship. This is what I want to bring back to the States because people all over desire to know they are seen, valued, and loved. God has given me this amazing gift of birthing connection with almost anyone and the ability to pursue, love, and foster those relationships. If I forget all the spectacular sights around the world, let me not forget the people I’ve met. I am changed because of them, and that’s not something worth letting go of. It’s when I meet new people where I experience the beauty and goodness of God, the gracious love of his desire to enter into relationship with me the most.
To all the people I’ve met: I love you and I am very thankful for you.
Thanks for sticking it out to the end. You’re a real pal.
