Someone To Tell It To: Sharing Life's Journey
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Introduction
Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.
—Miles Franklin
We can’t pinpoint one specific moment when this book, and this journey together, began. There were many moments actually—many conversations, many walks, and many beers—which in essence jump-started this book and this mission about which we write. It was on one of our walks, in a community park in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, where it all began. We go back to that park often, especially when we need to talk, reflect, pray, process, or plan. It is a sacred place for us, a place where our sacred mission had its birth.
Australian author Miles Franklin understood something profound: We are all created to share, to connect with others, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. We all want and need to be heard, to know that others listen and care. We crave intimacy. We are in a constant search for validation and for our voices to find resonance with the lives of others.
Her statement has intrigued us since the very first time we each read it. We have seen this need again and again during our years as pastors, while visiting people who have been homebound or in hospital rooms, while sitting with someone grieving the death of a loved one, or while comforting those in distress, pain, loneliness, or uncertainty. We have also experienced this need firsthand as we have grappled with our own families’ challenges with cancer, financial pressures, career directions, and disability. We have learned how all of us at times vitally need to be heard. We need someone to listen so our struggles and questions become shared and not ours alone to bear.
Loneliness is part of the human condition that confronts and challenges each of us.
Don’t we all need connections with others? Isn’t life about the relationships we create, the people we invite into our lives, and those who invite us into theirs? Yet most of our relationships have no significant depth, no intimacy. We are carried through life, and while we connect with others in countless ways, most of those ways are superficial. We barely pierce the surface of our being; we rarely reveal the real issues in our lives.
This is why the nonprofit we started, Someone To Tell It To, is so significant. It is a safe place for all of us to express our feelings, with the assurance that we can confidently give voice to all that is on our minds, in our hearts, and on our souls. It is a place where we will not be judged or condemned. Rather, it is a place where we will be given the freedom to share our burdens so we may begin to find relief from them. It is a place where we will be given the encouragement to seek light instead of darkness, forgiveness instead of bitterness, and affirmation instead of criticism and negativity. It is a place where we can find comfort, a means to joy, and a path toward healing and abiding peace.
We believe that everyone needs someone to tell it to and that everyone needs grace and a safe place to share. We believe that everyone has a story to tell and a need to be listened to, that everyone is worthy and has something to offer, that everyone hungers for authenticity, that everyone has a need to be who they were created to be, and that everyone is meant to live an abundant life.
These beliefs are the foundation of the book Someone To Tell It To. When you read this book, we hope you will be encouraged to give voice to your struggles and pain, to embrace your strengths, to confront your fears, and then to be inspired to find new life again—as the people on these pages have done.
We have been preparing for this book for several years and have spent extensive time in reflection, study, prayer, discussion, and planning to create an outreach to both those of established faith and to those who are exploring what spirituality and faith could mean to them on their lives’ journeys. Out of professional and personal life experiences, as well as our educational backgrounds (Tom is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and Michael is a graduate of Lancaster Theological Seminary), we are answering the call to write Someone to Tell It To: Sharing Life’s Journey so that others may find a life of hope, joy, love, and peace.
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About the Book
This is the account of two men who believe that we are created for deep, meaningful, and emotionally intimate relationships. The authors have found these relationships with their wives, and they are models for their children. They experience this kind of relationship with each other. They share how vital these relationships are through their non-profit: Someone To Tell It To. They create safe environments for people to share the stories of their lives openly and unashamedly. They encourage others to find safe people in their lives to foster relationships that provide true support, unconditional love, and grace.
This book shares the authors’ stories and the stories of others who are seeking meaning and purpose in their lives, especially when faced with challenges and questions. Someone To Tell It To may remind us that we are not alone in our fears, or in our feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty. Readers may be motivated to create more vital connections in their lives, connections that can be life-giving and soul-enriching, that can bring peace in the dark seasons of our lives.
“Having someone to tell it to,” as author Miles Franklin writes, is “one of the fundamental needs of human beings.”
About the Author
Michael Gingerich and Tom Kaden are trained pastors, and they both feel a special calling to listen to peoples’ stories. They believe that it is a sacred privilege to provide a safe place for others to share their experiences deeply and openly.