We’re Craig & Kerry Myers. Here’s how we’re living deeply. 

Craig: “We’d only been living in our newly renovated house for about seven months when a huge storm rolled through. A massive tree from our backyard fell on the house and split it open. Suddenly there was an eight-foot-trunk-diameter tree sitting in the middle of our kitchen/dining room/living room area! It’s safe to say we’ll never forget that afternoon: June 22nd, 2023. And talk about timing- Daniel, our first Young Life exchange student from Madrid, was flying in at 9 that night!” 

Kerry: “The house was completely uninhabitable. We’re supposed to pick up this 15-year-old Spanish boy that night, and we have a tree on our house!” 

Craig: “I was out on the front porch and Kerry saw the weather coming. She said, ‘I’m going inside.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m going to take a nap out here.’ But the wind picked up and I went downstairs with the family. We heard this thud and thought it was just the umbrella on our back deck. But as I went upstairs to look, I could see this wall of wind coming across our back pasture. About that time, the tree came crashing through the ceiling.” 

Kerry: “Young Life Madrid even said they could find Daniel another family. But we said, ‘No, if he’s flexible, we’ll go with it.’ So we picked him up from the airport with a tree still on our house! We stayed with neighbors for the entire month. Daniel never actually spent a night in our house.” 

Craig: “Our neighbors -the Jernigans, Cannons, McKinneys, Chesneys- all go to CSPC, and they just opened their homes to us. One couple went on vacation for two weeks and said, ‘Just move into our house.’ As they came home, another couple went out of town, so we moved into their house for another two weeks.” 

Kerry: “Daniel got to experience this community that came around us. He had questions, asking me, ‘So your neighbors, they just let you come stay in their house?’ We said, ‘Well, they all go to our church.’ Even Daniel’s parents, as we did WhatsApp calls with them, said, ‘What a great community you have.’ Daniel was so flexible and easygoing. It ended up being this beautiful picture of Christian community for him to see right from the start.” 

Kerry: “Over the next two years, we hosted Daniel’s sister Ava too- she was about 14. We kept up with their family through FaceTime and WhatsApp, got to know their parents Raquel & Antonio. They kept saying, ‘You need to come to Spain! We want y’all to come!’ When we realized it wasn’t just something polite to say -that they really were insisting we come- we decided to go this past July.” 

Craig: “When we got there, they gave up their bedroom for us, brought us completely into their family. They didn’t want us staying at a hotel or Airbnb- they wanted us to be in the mix with them. We got to meet the grandparents who live right there in the same little town, had dinner with them one night, met Raquel’s brothers. Really tight-knit family.” 

Kerry: “What struck me most was how they live. I’d walk around their apartment thinking, ‘Where is all their stuff?’ It was basically a four-bedroom apartment with a galley kitchen, but it functioned perfectly. That’s just how they live over there. She’s a biology teacher with her PhD, he’s an airplane mechanic—they’re well-to-do people. They have a summer home in North Spain where they spend time, but they live so simply in Madrid.” 

Craig: “Their big meal is at 3:00 in the afternoon and they all sit down as a family for an hour and a half, two hours. (We’re lucky to have our kids with us for 15 minutes for a meal because we’re off running here and there to athletics and this and that!) Then they take a rest in the afternoon and eat together again late in the evening- just kind of a snack. They play games, build puzzles. Very family-oriented and tight knit as a community.” 

Kerry: “It didn’t seem so hurried over there. Maybe they’re hurried in a different way, but they are very much family focused. And they walk everywhere- I got a lot of steps in on our trip! Their hospitality was incredible. And the simple way of living! It made me realize I need to downsize in a lot of ways.” 

Kerry: “One night when we were in Spain, the kids all went out walking around on their own, and Craig & I had the evening alone with Raquel & Antonio. That’s when things got really deep: sharing how we met, our previous marriages, hardships we’d been through. We hadn’t had a conversation like that in a long time.” 

Craig: “I think if you show vulnerability, the people you’re talking with will do the same. We talked about one of my sons having some pretty significant health issues -he’s fine now, thankfully- but just being vulnerable about your own trials. Life is hard, whether you’re a believer or not a believer. I’m thankful we have a God that loves us and carries us through those times.” 

Kerry: “They opened up about how they met, too, and about COVID, when they were literally stuck in their 1200 square foot flat. They couldn’t go outside- four of them stuck in that apartment for a couple months!” 

Craig: “What God helped me realize through it all is you don’t have to do a lot to invest in people. It’s just life-on-life, it’s not like you have to go be a missionary somewhere. I mean, every time I go out of the country, I’m reminded how big this world is, how small Tennessee is, how big God is. But people essentially are the same everywhere- they want to love, and they want to be loved. Being vulnerable, having meaningful conversations, really listening- these are all ways others can hopefully see our faith. That’s so much more effective than just words.” 

Kerry: “It takes asking questions and really wanting to understand someone- and, in this case, wanting to understand another culture.” 

Craig: “When we left, they gave us the sweetest card saying they consider us family and felt comfortable with our sense of humor, the way we communicated. They really are family to us now.” 

Kerry: “It reminded Craig that, with his boys now grown and moving on, the times he does have with them, he wants to make meaningful conversation at dinner; not just rush through. Value every moment left with them. That’s what Gospel generosity really is- giving time, being curious, having deep conversation. It doesn’t have to be that hard.”