Excerpt – Stories
As human beings we live in stories. The Bible is one grand story. A central part of the journey is hearing our own stories. To help foster this approach, each teaching includes a story of real life, one that hopefully captures the dissonance, joy, tension, and wonder we all face. The following story is from the Q4 Workbook – When God Breaks In, pg 20-21.
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4.02 – Stories – Sign
As the doors burst open to reveal a small crowd of onlookers, a large Italian woman held a small sign that read, “Bianchi”. Derek noticed it but thought nothing of it, looking only for the correct aisle where his baggage would come out. Normally he only carried an overnight bag but this trip required a longer stay. And because of that fact he was tired and wished his bag were the first to come out.
He noticed his flight number on the board and began walking toward it when he heard a scream behind him. He turned to see another younger Italian woman, whom he recognized from the plane, almost tackling the woman with the sign. The two immediately hugged and started crying beyond what two people would normally do. The older woman picked up the younger and twirled her around. Their sobbing seemed to grow more pronounced as the moments went by.
Derek’s curiosity grew and he stepped back to see what the meeting was about. For at least 30 seconds the two did nothing more than hug and cry profusely. At one point the older Italian woman pulled away to look at the younger woman, caressing her face and looking into here eyes. The crowd around them had stopped, all wondering what the moment had meant.
Derek approached the outer circle of onlookers and asked the gentleman next to him, “Do you know what its
about?”
“No,” the man said. “But it must be something interesting?”
Derek looked around and spotted an opening in the crowd and circled to get a closer look. Other family members were also there and they were all talking with elated smiles and a few tears. Derek pressed through the crowd and found his opening almost next to the woman.
“You know I never wanted this to happen,” the older woman said to the younger.
“I know,” the younger woman said, crying again.
Derek looked at the woman next to him who shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “I don’t know either.”
The older woman kissed the younger woman’s forehead and then crossed herself as if to pray and bless the
moment. She said something in Italian.
The younger woman wiped away the tears and finally noticed the crowd around them. She laughed at the moment and then addressed the crowd. “She’s my real mom, and I have never seen her before,” she said, almost embarrassed. The two hugged again.
For some reason Derek couldn’t help but applaud and the crowd joined right in. His heart rose to the moment as if to connect to the younger Italian woman’s joy and pain. A tear fell from his cheek. In a single moment this woman had experienced more emotional connection with a mother she never knew than he ever had in forty-two years with his own father.