Sometimes we simply have to get out of life's way

​If I were to write the story of my life, there would be chapters. And maybe the latest chapter would be titled Honduras.

Nearly three years ago, I was sitting in my office at the local college. I was interviewing Buddy Teaster - CEO and President of Soles4Souls. I'd never met Buddy. At the time, the only thing I knew about him was that he was as a runner; I was interviewing him for a running podcast I was doing at the time.

What I knew nothing about was his work with Soles4Souls.

Yet, when Buddy left after our interview, that was all I could think about. I couldn't stop thinking about the power an old pair of shoes could have in changing people's lives. And - I couldn't stop thinking about those lives that were being changed. Lives I knew so little about.

That created a restlessness in me until one day I went to the Soles4Souls website and registered to take a trip with them to Honduras. A trip unlike anything I'd ever signed up for in my life.

I've written a lot about that trip back in the summer of 2019.

What I haven't written a lot about - at least not directly - is how much life changed when I returned from that trip. Honduras unveiled a lot of darkness to me.

Darkness in THEE world. Darkness in MY world.

It revealed how so much of our world looks and feels all alone. In many ways, that trip revealed the same about me.

Thursday of this week, I was driving to work. I felt a peace come over me I hadn't felt in a long time. Maybe since I was sitting in the heart of a hidden village in Honduras 3 years ago holding the feet and looking into the eyes of a small but grateful child. I wondered where this peace in me was coming from. It wasn't coffee or sleep or running or anything I'd done. It was just a mysterious peace; a peace I barely recognized.

I dropped Elliott off at school yesterday. I was heading to my office at the college. And there it was again - that peace. What is this?

In the middle of it my song came on the radio:

I'm gonna run
No I'm gonna fly
I'm gonna know what it means to live
And not just be alive
The world's gonna hear
Cause I'm gonna shout
And I will be dancing when circumstances drown the music out
Say I won't

I got to my office. I turned on my computer. I checked Facebook before I started working. The first post I saw was from my friend Tiffany - the Soles4Souls travel leader of my trip to Honduras three years ago. The post was about an upcoming trip this summer.

To Honduras.

I didn't think about it. Not for a second. I didn't check my calendar. I didn't check anything. There was no restlessness this time. I just clicked the link and registered for the trip.

I have no idea what this next trip will be. The close to a chapter? The start of a new one? Maybe that first trip was simply an invitation to this one.

I don't know, really.

All I know is there is a peace that comes when you give yourself a moment to stop trying to figure out life and just go with it. There is this place where there is music playing so much louder than your circumstances. When you get there - just dance.

Don't think about it. Not for a second.

Just dance.