I love our technology. I don’t have a Facebook page and I never tweet, but I’m an email and text junkie. (I am an introvert and a writer after all; it’s more about getting it out than a back-and-forth.)

Occasionally, someone special to me emails me a link to something that frankly, blows me away. My dear friend, Kim Gustafson did just that last week. (This isn’t the first time Kim has done this for me; Kim broadens my mind and has introduced me to much that has expanded my thoughts.)

Kim met David McLain’s wife years ago when the two worked together. David is from Yarmouth and is a professional photographer for National Geographic. He travels for months at a time for work – as do journalists, soldiers, diplomats, musicians, business people, and many in our world.

For those of us who keep our feet planted on home soil, it’s foreign and out of our grasp of possibility. But….for those inspired to do this, David has captured it. 

Please watch his video “The Calling” below. 

His photography is breathtaking; his words deeply felt; his truth resonates. I am inspired by the beauty, by David’s words, by the depth of someone following the lead of their calling.

David calls himself a “pilgrim” and describes the “blessing and curse of the calling.” How I crave a job that “swallows you whole” as David describes his. We can only hope to be so lucky in life as to have a job that “swallows us whole.” 

He says “in 30 years, it never gets old.” He wonders, “How can I ever explain what I do and why I do it to those I love?”

I can only hope, David, no one asks you to. Your answer is crystal clear. Thank you.