Butch and Sundance
Enjoying our lives together as an exteded church family
New friendships are often forged in the trenches, during intense circumstances, (like a bank robbing spree), but sometimes they develop in the in-between spaces, illuminating ordinary moments with unanticipated camaraderie that exceeds expectations. A shared way of life + some shared experiences + an vigorous dialogue of processing our lives through the gospel, creates lasting connections, which are made even sweeter when you are able to recognize them as they are happening. But there are also intangibles. The things you can’t plan for because they would never occur to you ahead of time. Those wonderful Brigadoon moments that you stumble into unexpectedly, which can be easily spoiled if you try to hold on to them too tightly.
I’m not sure exactly what I expected when I volunteered to join James Riley at the Latin American celebration last week, but it wasn’t this. I figured James would be occupied most of the time with the teaching he was doing, and I would spend my time making attempts to communicate with everyone else in my very best Spanglish, or that I might have a few moments here or there to talk with James, Michael, and Jenny about our shared ministry contexts (and try and convince James to grant me access to some much needed unpublished BILD resources.) Instead, I ended up having about 25 “road trip” hours of some of the most useful, interesting, enjoyable conversation I’ve had with another human being on this planet (my wife aside, conversations with her are constant and super helpful – love you honey!)
The best things happen when you’re punchy. Things that you would not do at home come naturally on the road. (Yes, that’s a White Christmas reference.)
Sometimes the best conversations at the end of a long day, when you’re feeling a little “dazed and confused” and decorum has already called it a night. Like our late-night run to the closest (but not quite as close as we thought) Buc-ees for pulled pork sandwiches and beaver merch at the eponymous Texas “gas station”; or while hanging out in a rental car on a warm day at the airport waiting for others to arrive; or on long drives around the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex with a vivacious young couple. James and I were already having pretty decent conversation, but it amped up considerably when we were joined by Michael and his “new wife” Jenny. (Not as opposed to his old wife… new in the sense that he is recently married to her… you know, for the first time. So, I guess I could just as easily say Michael is Jenny’s “new husband.” Okay, let’s just go with newlyweds. Michael and Jenny are newlyweds.)
I was already aware that James and I share a similar ministry context in the sense that we are both apostolic coworkers with responsibilities in leading church communities and we both prefer shorts to pants (I mean, who wouldn’t?), but I didn’t expect to meet my SIMA MAP doppelganger on this trip. (Discover your own MAP here.)
James and I are the same age. We both have a lifelong fascination with movies, television and pop culture (which has not diminished over time even as we have become “serious” church leaders.) Our SIMA MAP primary results are remarkably similar. We share much of the same motivated abilities with regards to how we learn, investigate, evaluate, oversee and communicate, and we are similar in the sort of results we hope to achieve and conditions we prefer to operate within. We have a similar approach to training and shepherding situations, and we even use similar language to explain concepts and ideas in paradigm-level conversations. We both work very hard to make complex ideas more accessible. The only notable difference is that James is a cat guy and I prefer dogs.
Since we are part of the same network and both functioning on the same global apostolic team, it seems like a sure bet that we will continue to have fun and work hard together, particularly as we have more opportunities to go on trips and engage in training together. I look forward to the next time, but until then all I can say is… “James, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”