People and their stories
The visiting missionary was asked by the preacher: You’ve been here for a month. What can you tell me about this church? And the missionary, who’d spent hours and hours at table with Christians from that church community responded: What surprises me is that everybody, everybody has a story.
Having lived 23 years in the same place, I sometimes “tune-out” to the stories of those around me. While traveling, my ears open, my heart is more aware to what others have to say.
It was our third night in town and we’d already been talking for an hour when R. told us about his family tragedies. Years ago, from a kitchen table, his 17 year-old sister picked up her eldest brother’s recently-cleaned pistol, put the barrel to her temple and pulled the trigger, stupidly thinking the weapon was unloaded.
A teenage son got talked into a robbery, chose to hold the gun, which went off during the hold-up, killing the female employee behind the counter. He’s already served over a dozen years of a life-without-parole sentence in 4 different prisons in the south of the US. He’s in a “good” prison now.
Everyone’s got a story. I just need to listen.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
So true! We periodically have a family or two from our congregation into our home for a meal. It’s just our way of interacting and getting to know them better and vice-versa. Recently, we had these two couples in for dinner, and the same thing you describe happened. Both couples talked about events that had shaped their lives, events they most likely would not have related in conversation in the hallways before or after church. The more I listen, the more I know I am not unique; all have stories, and so much of the time, they are similar to our own. To share is a special kind of love.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I feel the same way about teaching. With hundreds of kids coming and going, it’s rare that I get to sit down with any of them and listen to their stories. How much better would I be at teaching them if I knew who they really were?
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
hear, hear
February 23rd, 2008 at 6:18 am
I love to hear stories. I love to tell stories. The two you shared are sad, but life is filled with sad stories.
February 25th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Boy do they ever. We had one this past weekend. My wife even said she had felt that God hadn’t been using us for the past few months until this weekend.