Last month in Nicaragua, we were staying on the island of Ometepe for the first two weeks. Each weekend there on my free days, I was able to spend time at a beautiful hostel called Pital Chocolate Paradise. On my last day at the hostel with my teammate Shawn, a colorful hippie couple arrived shortly before we left, but I didn’t have much of an opportunity to chat with them. Upon arriving back at our ministry, we discovered that some of our other teammates who were in San Juan del Sur that weekend met this couple the day before us. A few days later, we were preparing to leave the island and shortly after arriving at the ferry, the same couple appeared again! I knew we were meant to talk and, during the hour-long ferry ride and wait beforehand, the three of us had an inspiring spiritual conversation. The two of them were deeply committed to their spiritual paths which revolved a great deal around kundalini yoga. I had explored this path a bit as well in the past and we all discussed spiritual practices together. I was able to share with them some of the thoughts that I posted in the previous blog (which if you haven’t read, please do), and we all departed the ferry in an enthusiastic state from the discussion. Shortly thereafter, I received this message from them:
Hi Theo! I want to thank you for talking with us and being so open. I really enjoyed hearing your perspective and story of how you got to where you are now. From my upbringing, Christianity has always felt really inaccessible to me. While I’ve liked everything I’ve read about Jesus, it always seemed to me that I would be punished if I believed in his teachings and Christian ideas of God. The Christians in my life are very close-minded and fear-based, so it was extremely healing for me to talk with you. I also really loved how you were talking about how you want to lower yourself to be in service. That is very much what I have been wanting to do as well. I am now feeling very excited to expand my understanding to incorporate some of what you were talking about. Thank you for being awesome!
I felt greatly encouraged by this response. I believe the gospel should frequently appear as its name connotes – “good news.” Narrow-minded and fear-based shouldn’t be attributes of Christians. Instead, let us be known by our Love!
P.S. The title of this blog – “Synchronicity as Usual” – comes from the historian/philosopher/playwright/tour guide Timothy “Speed” Levitch. You might appreciate the secular documentary “The Cruise” about New York and his life as a tour guide. Definitely one of my favorites : )
