Five years ago, I started a podcast by accident.
At least that’s how it feels when I look back on it now.
In the fall of 2021, I was serving as chaplain to a group of seven young adults involved with Appalachia Service Project. Brendan, Gabi, Haley, Katie, Manon, Megan, and Mollie invited me into a season of accompanying them as they discerned life, faith, vocation, and purpose.
One day, in the course of our conversations, they asked about podcasts.
What they were actually asking for was a list of podcasts they might enjoy listening to.
What I heard was something entirely different.
I heard them asking for a podcast.
Not knowing much about podcasting beyond the fact that I listened to podcasts myself, I pulled out a microphone, found some software, did a little research, and began recording reflections for them. My hope was simple: perhaps hearing a voice they knew and trusted might give them something to reflect on between our conversations.
What I did not know was that a small invitation would become a lasting part of my life.
Today, podcasting has become one of the primary ways I share what I am learning, wondering about, and experiencing. Through the Infinitely Precious Podcast, the Dulin Weekly Podcast, and Spiritual, Not Religious Podcast, I have had the privilege of accompanying people I may never meet, sharing reflections on faith, life, relationships, grief, hope, and the sacredness of ordinary existence.
Five years ago, I could not have imagined any of that.
Life is often like that.
The gifts that shape us rarely arrive with labels attached. They do not announce themselves as life-changing opportunities. More often, they appear as ordinary conversations, chance encounters, simple invitations, or relationships that seem unremarkable at the time.
Only later do we realize that a seed was planted.
One of the great gifts those young adults gave me was not simply the opportunity to serve as their chaplain. They gave me the opportunity to grow. They gave me space to experiment. They invited me into their lives, and in doing so, they helped shape mine.
I would like to believe I offered something meaningful to them as well. But whether I did or not, I know this: relationships change us.
When we truly accompany one another, we stretch one another. We encourage one another. We challenge one another. We open doors for one another without even realizing it.
Looking back, I see that the podcast itself was born out of relationship.
And perhaps that is true of most of the meaningful things in our lives.
The work we do. The passions we discover. The gifts we uncover. The skills we develop. Often they emerge because someone believed in us, invited us, encouraged us, challenged us, or simply walked beside us long enough for something new to come alive within us.
That realization leaves me with a simple invitation.
Pay attention.
Pay attention to the people who enter your life.
Pay attention to the invitations that arise.
Pay attention to the small opportunities that seem insignificant.
Pay attention to the gifts hidden inside challenges.
You never know what seed is being planted.
You never know what simple act of love may become.
You never know when a relationship, a conversation, or a new experience will quietly begin shaping the person you are becoming.
The gifts you never saw coming may become the very gifts you are someday called to share with the world.
And so, dear friend, remain attentive.
Life is offering surprises.
Love is still at work.
And you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.
Infinitely Precious 