c. 1996 Religion News Service
CLEVELAND (RNS)-The difference in Bruce and Julie Madsen is undeniable.
It’s discernible in their faces, which are relaxed and lapse into easy smiles. Gone is the tension so apparent in those same faces nine months ago, along with the defensiveness. Back then, the couple spent a lot of time explaining to others why they had just quit their lucrative jobs and sold their home here to embark on a cross-country journey in search of inspiring stories about”ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” Their newfound comfort level is even more readily apparent, however, in the ease with which they convey their experiences on the road. They matter-of-factly recount tales from the people they have met, seemingly oblivious that some of these stories may require a giant leap for the more skeptical among us.
Consider, for example, their story of Ariel McCloud. “So many of these things are about listening to `the voice,'”says Julie by way of introducing the story.”That intuition we all have. Ariel and her husband were driving in a car with their 3-year-old daughter in the front seat when suddenly Ariel heard a voice telling her to put her daughter in the back seat. She did, and moments later they were in an accident. The parents were seriously injured, but the daughter was unharmed. “The husband was hospitalized in a veterans hospital, and Ariel was in a coma that lasted 30 days. It didn’t look as though she would make it, and finally her husband, in despair, prayed to God, `Your will be done.’ That night, he had a dream where Jesus was sitting on a rock and told him, `Your wife is going to be fine.’ The husband woke up, refused to spend another minute in the hospital and headed for his wife’s bed. When he got there the nurses were amazed. They said to him, `How did you know your wife woke up? It just happened.'” The Madsens smile.”We’ve been hearing those kinds of stories all the time,”says Bruce.”All the time.” The Madsens have been traveling around the country in a recreational vehicle collecting such stories. They are changed by the experience, they say. At 52, Bruce, who had been an administrator with General Electric for 26 years, says he is more relaxed now, more willing to just let things happen. Julie, 48, a psychologist, says she listens better, and she doesn’t try to hide her spiritual side.
The Madsens say collecting the stories involves a spiritual interaction between them and the people they interview. Often, says Julie, the persons being interviewed end up awakened to a higher sense of their own value in the world. “The dialogue involves two people coming together, and something greater is created. That person is getting in touch with something about themselves and I’m getting in touch with the `human being-ness’ of life. It takes us all to a deeper level.” One of the hallmarks of these”extraordinary”people is their protests that they’re anything but, says Julie.”They almost always say, `There’s nothing extraordinary about me.’ But in their articulating their stories to us, they often become more committed to whatever it is they are doing in their lives.” That was the case of the congregation of Emerson Church, a Unitarian Universalist church in Canoga Park, Calif., whose building was destroyed in an earthquake. Rather than disband and join one of several other Unitarian churches in the area, the congregation decided to raise the $1.5 million to rebuild. The Madsens interviewed the board to ask why. “By the end of the interview, board members were crying and acknowledging one another for all the work they’ve been doing,”says Julie.”One woman thanked us for coming to talk to them. She said, `We’ve been so busy doing this that we haven’t taken the time to pay attention to one another and affirm what has been going on here.'” Such stories, says Julie, just come to them. “We have a high intention. We intend to find stories of heroism, we put that out there, and, of course, what you seek, you find. We have never had a dry week. We average four interviews a week, and some weeks are even busier. And the more the word gets out, the more people we hear from. Someone we talk to in Phoenix knows of someone in Tacoma who knows someone in some other town.” (OPTIONAL TRIM BEGINS)
The stories are as varied as the towns and cities they are visiting. Some stories appear overtly miraculous-such as the one about Ariel McCloud. Others are more subtle in their inspiration, but are uplifting nonetheless.
The Madsens’ list of stories seems endless. There is the Sacramento, Calif., senior citizens group-a couple of thousand strong-whose members pay a monthly fee to volunteer their time harvesting unwanted crops and gathering groceries donated by stores to fill the bins of 95 charities feeding the homeless.”Yes, they pay to help,”says Bruce.
There’s Mardee Harkness, a stroke survivor who one day took an orange crate and a children’s book and sat under a tree at her housing complex. She began reading out loud; at the end of the hour, five children were clustered around her, and that was the beginning of what’s now a day-care center that serves 15 children a week.
Life on the road has been exhilarating, but also hard work, says Bruce.”We work seven days a week. It’s not like you go home at the end of the day.” They have encountered little skepticism on the road, even from that most cynical of groups, the media. Several newspapers have covered them, and they have appeared on numerous local talk shows. Without exception, the encounters have been positive, they say. “What surprised me is how many were supportive of us,”says Bruce.”One TV cameraman told us, `I wish we did more of these kind of stories but there’s always a fire to cover, you know.'” (OPTIONAL TRIM ENDS)
Their plans remain unchanged from when they first took off in their RV. They will hit every state over a two-year period, and then will write a book. They plan to fly to Hawaii with Julie’s parents, who have invited them on vacation.
Morrow Publishing has asked them for a book proposal, and representatives of television producer Aaron Spelling recently took them to lunch to hear more about the people they have met.
When they started, the Madsens, both of whom have grown children from previous marriages, had been married only two years and were feeling they needed more time together. But it’s one thing to say you want more togetherness. It’s quite another to go from sharing 3,300 square feet of house to 300 square feet of recreational vehicle-continuously, around-the-clock, with little more than bathroom breaks from each other. Surely there is a need to get away from each other?
No.”We love it,”says Julie. “It really isn’t a problem,”says Bruce. They look at each other. They smile. Again.
About the only thing the Madsens seem to disagree on is whether to stop their travels when they hit the two-year mark.
Julie says she feels the need for her own community.”I’m more flexible because of this trip, but I’m also more hungry for stability than I’ve ever been before. I need my little community.” Not Bruce. “I could do this forever,”he says. That’s quite a leap for the administrator who used to live and die by project deadlines. “I know, I used to live the GE life: `Make a plan, work a plan.’ But this doesn’t seem like a project anymore. We’ve learned to follow the guidance. If we get stuck in a place a day or two longer because we have to meet a writing deadline, we just do it. And something else happens because we’re there, we meet someone else who has a story to tell.” He hesitates for only a moment. “I guess I’ve learned to listen to my heart.”
(For more information or to provide a story lead for the Madsens, call 800-714-1838.)
MJP END SCHULTZ
