The Great Exchange

"Humans are designed to seek comfort and order, and so if they have comfort and order, they tend to plant themselves, even if their comfort isn't all that comfortable. And even if they secretly want for something better."  -Donald Miller, Quote from A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Twenty-three days. Twenty-three. And then things change. Drastically.

We are exchanging our comfortable life in New York City for what promises to be a less comfortable life in rural Honduras. Gone will be the luxuries of hot showers, paved roads, Broadway shows and movie theaters. In fact, the contrasts between the Big Apple and our new home in La Unión are quite daunting. Check it out.

NYC: 8,244,910 residents (according to 2011 census data)

La Unión: Approximately 6,000 residents

NYC: Boasts more than 20,000 restaurants, over 200 of which will deliver food right to my doorstep

La Unión: Has no restaurants, but does have a few street vendors serving local fare

NYC: Is easily accessible by air, land or water, due to its many highways, waterways and three international airports, one of which is only a 7 minute drive from our home

La Unión: Is five hours from the nearest airport and is two hours from the nearest paved road. Only one dirt road winds through the mountains in and out of town.

NYC: Sea-level and pretty flat

La Unión: Almost a mile up, rugged and mountainous

NYC: Safest big city in the US, with less than 7 homicides per 100,000 residents

La Unión: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently ranked Honduras as the most dangerous country in the world, with 86 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, and San Pedro Sula (our closest urban center) is today the world’s most violent city, with 159 murders per 100,000 people

NYC: Has more billionaires than any other city in the world; average household income in Manhattan is $121,549; 9.8% unemployment rate

La Unión: 50% of Honduras’ population is living below the poverty line; unemployment stands at 27.9%; Average income is around $1,600 a year

I could go on. There are an unending number of differences between life in NYC and life in La Union. Many of them we won’t even know until we get there.

So why do this? Why give up a comfortable life with a solid income, working for two powerful NYC institutions* to become teachers in a small, rural school? Why take a 93% pay cut? Why exchange the culinary wonders of Queens for rice and beans? Why this? Why now? It makes no sense.

The truth is that we’ve felt an internal nudging to leave the comforts of home and immerse ourselves in another culture for awhile now. Having pursued graduate studies in International Development Studies at GWU, I have been interested in an intentional overseas adventure for years. And more recently, Lenny too felt a tugging on his heart.  When we were both offered jobs at Vida Abundante School in Honduras, we felt confident that things were falling into place for a new phase of life.

But that probably doesn’t answer the “Why?” question with much satisfaction. This type of life change seems counter-intuitive, counter-cultural.  Yes. True. Therein lies the answer. We wanted to do something counter-cultural, something surprising, something completely different. We wanted the opportunity to learn from another culture, to embrace simplicity, to rearrange and solidify our values. We wanted to be disrupted. We wanted a Great Exchange.

You see, in spite of all the amenities (or maybe because of them!), it can be hard living in NYC, or anywhere there is affluence for that matter. After awhile, the longings for comfort, for power, for success, for luxury start to rub off on you. And - in my experience - before you know it, you’ve become someone you didn’t want to be, with a frenzied lifestyle in service of those longings. Something unhealthy becomes top priority because it’s a gateway to quenching those desires. All of a sudden you've become that self-important person who is most concerned with the restaurant that will have the pleasure of hosting you for Sunday brunch or the cute, sparkly sandals that you simply must have or that trendy apartment in Chelsea that would be just perfect for you, all the while becoming more unaware of or removed from the plethora of needs abundant in any urban context.

And over time I have realized, as Donald Miller mentions above, I “secretly want for something better.”

So I have decided to exchange the pressures of this lifestyle for the challenges of another one. I am trying to look our longings straight in the eyes and say, “No, you don’t control me.” Comfort, I am willing to give you up in order to experience life more fully. Success, I want to reshape and redefine you so that you are aligned with kingdom values. Power, I fling my longings for you to the side so that I might better live a life of sacrifice and simplicity. Because this is the way of something better. This is the way of Jesus.

If you’re like me, this type of confrontation is best met with radical action. Because there’s always another episode of Breaking Bad beckoning you and me to stay curled up on the couch. And always another jacket that would look totally awesome with that one outfit.  I believe in my head and in my heart that there’s more to life than this. It’s time for an exchange. Twenty-three days…

-Kara

*I recently left my job at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, ranked the #16 most influential church in America, partly because of the prestige of its superstar pastor, Tim Keller. Lenny is wrapping up his job running the political affairs division of NYC’s Dept of Education, the largest school system in the country, including more than 1.1 million kids, 1,750 schools, and a $24.4 billion annual budget.