Unexpected Conversations

I had a couple of interesting conversations over the weekend. Not that they were bad, but their quality caught me off guard. I was exposed to broader perspectives of life, which was very timely (I think I’m spending too much time with people my age oops).

Confession: I almost missed my flight from Dallas to Orlando. I checked in at the 24-hour mark for my Southwest flight, but I still received a boarding number of C10 (basically last). I took a screenshot of my boarding pass, and apparently the airline changed my gate within those final 24 hours, because I went to the wrong gate (which was also going to Orlando). I waited until almost the end to board, but then my boarding pass would not scan. I’ve had many airport mishaps, but this was the first time I couldn’t get on the wrong plane. Haha.

I refreshed my Southwest app, and instead of Gate 19, my flight was at Gate 2. So I speed-walked to the other side of the terminal. As I was walking up to the Gate, I received a call from Southwest because everyone was waiting for me. Oops. I was the last one on the plane.

If you have flown with Southwest, the airline has an open seating policy, which means you choose your own seat. Window and aisle seats fill up first, front to back, then middle seats. I knew I was getting a middle seat, but since the flight was only 2.5 hours, I didn’t mind. I walked past a few empty seats (I don’t feel super comfortable sitting next to big men, ok? They take up a lot of space) when I was told by other passengers to go back because there were no more seats!

Long story short, I ended up in the middle seat in the second row next to two normal-sized men (some lady left her back in that seat so it looked occupied). The guy sitting in the aisle started a conversation with me, and it ended up lasting the entire 2.5 hours. Paul grew up in Orlando and works in the irrigation industry, manufacturing sprinklers and other important agricultural components. He was flying home from a trade show in Las Vegas and asked whether or not I was going home (my answer: “I guess, for now?” A tangent for another time). Anyway, we made some connections (faith, mission for the gospel, and this random one about surgical robots because my dad works at Intuitive Surgical and he talked to someone about the da Vinci robot the night before. That was pretty cool. He kept asking me what my dad was going to do after he retired haha.) and had extensive discussions about the intersection of one’s mission, talents, and passion.  After learning about my EE and Music degrees, he repeatedly asked me if I thought this (Cru Marketing) is where I am supposed to be.

My answer was, and has consistently been, yes. I believe this is where God has called me for this year. I questioned this path the months before and after graduating college, but the way He showed up in those times through support-raising, and even here in Orlando, only confirms all the more that this is where He wants me for this season of life. I may be “suppressing my talents” or “not living to my full potential,” but I am learning so much about ministry, white American people, myself, and adulting. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything else.

 This conversation reminded me that God has created us with desires in our hearts to minister to the world. I was also made more aware of the limiting factors of life, like supporting a family (Paul is married and has two adorable children). And as much as I complain about living in America, freedom of religion is a lovely right to have.

~ 

On Saturday, I went to Stetson University’s 10-gallon Hatter. That’s just a fancy way of saying you play Ultimate for a Saturday with strangers (teams in a hatter tournament traditionally were determined by drawing names from a large hat). It was pretty fun, and I carpooled with a lady named Brenna, whom I met playing pickup on Sundays.

Brenna is from Alaska and moved to Orlando three years ago to work with Cru’s ministry called Jesus Film. It was refreshing having an extended conversation with a more mature lady (basically not some new college grad like me). She talked a lot about the cultural shock she experienced moving to Orlando. It made me realize that not all of my feeling out-of-place emotions are because of my ethnic background. I’m the only West Coaster in the internship, and most people at Cru are not from that side of the USA (much less the Bay Area). She said that, especially among women from other parts of the country, people are nice but play games, so you never really know how they feel about you. When she said that, something clicked. This was the uneasy feeling I’ve constantly had with many people, especially in the internship. I can never tell if they actually like me or are talking to me out of obligation/courtesy/Christian morality. It is a sticky limbo.

Note to everyone reading this: If you don’t like me, just tell me to my face and we don’t have to be friends!

Brenna said that girls from the West Coast are much more “what you see is what you get.” They don’t put up a smile if you’re a bother and are not polite nice just for the sake of it. I thought about this, and it kind of makes sense. Here is my very subjective, broad, and inaccurate analysis: West Coast is much more casual and liberal, so people are more comfortable being themselves. You can be straight-forward with your beliefs and views when you don’t have to adhere to tradition and random nonsense, and be comfortable with it! Especially when you’re a girl. I don’t actually know. Please share your perspective. I just hate the networking games people play.

Anyways. It was also really cool to talk about her work in Jesus Film – about cross-cultural experiences, living missionally, and being an advocate for issues she cares about. I’m really glad I got to play five hours of Ultimate and also spend two hours in a car getting to know Brenna.

Saturday made me realize that I currently do not have a lot of older women mentors/disciplers/role models in my life. I’m not saying I have none. My mom and aunt are excellent, godly women I’ve had the blessing of growing up with. But I have not found women in Orlando to speak truth and wisdom into my life. Don’t worry, I have friends here. But I don’t need more (I just don’t have the energy to keep up with all them). It’s a blessed problem to have. But I do want to work on having wise women in the place I am currently in.

Those are the two unexpected but life-giving conversations I’ve had this weekend. What cool conversations have you had recently?