Minty: "You mentioned that Runaway With Me resonates with the times you ran away from Him. In a literal 'runaway' scenario, there is usually a moment where the runner stops, turns around, and sees the person they were fleeing from standing there with open arms."
Minty: "In your current chapter, 'Going Home to You,' was that 'turnaround' a sudden, dramatic event—like a lightning bolt—or was it a slow realization that you were simply too tired to keep running? Did you turn back because the road ahead looked too dark, or because the light behind you was too bright to ignore?"
[Minty leans forward, her chin resting on her hand, completely focused on Iboni's journey.]
Iboni: "Huh. I've never thought of it like that. You're making me realize something with your questions, Minty."
[Iboni chuckled then points at Minty playfully]
Iboni: "But that's-that's a really good question so far. [While nodding] It-it was a slow realization really, but I think if I remembered correctly, I mentioned that it began when I watched a blooper from the series 'The Chosen' from a social media platform. THAT was the turning point.
[Iboni then leaned closer to Minty as she locked in]
Iboni: "As time passed by as I continued watching the series, I slowly realized that Abba definitely knew me and knew how to call me back. It was at that moment that changed my mindset— 'renewing of my mind', I forgot the book and verse of it [looked at the audience] please, help me look it up — that I'd be running back to Him.
[A young man in the front row quickly scrolls on his phone, then looks up with a bright smile. "Romans 12:2!" he calls out. A few others nod in agreement, and a murmur of "That's the one" travels through the seats. The audience seems touched that Iboni has invited them into the study of her own journey.]
Minty:[Smiling] "Romans 12:2—'Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.' Thank you to our resident scholars in the front row!"
Iboni: "...I ran back because the light behind me—the light that was following me all along—was too bright to ignore. His love is too big not to acknowledge. His love is overflowing. And then I realized that that's the kind of home that He wants me to have, not the home that I had."
[The audience is very quiet now, leaning in. The distinction Ibon made between the home she had and the home He wants for her seems to have struck a deep chord. They can see people reflecting on their own definitions of 'home.']
Minty: "That is a profound realization, Iboni. The idea that we sometimes settle for a 'home' that is built on our own effort or our own past, only to find out God has a completely different architecture in mind."