(Ed Rush) – I want to tell you about one of my best friends named Jabez.
We first met about 17 years ago, when he came to me as a coaching client.
Back then, we disagreed on almost everything politically.
Yes, everything.
Just see the difference: I’m a Marine Corps F-18 guy. Combat tours. Two trips to Iraq. A person who believes deeply in God, country, and personal responsibility.
Jabez? He grew up in a tiny fishing village in Alaska, so remote the bank was inside a bar. Raised by his grandmother. At some point, he ended up homeless. Dropped out of high school entirely.
So yeah… the political beliefs you form from that life don’t look much like mine. If you were placing bets, you’d say we’d last one dinner, tops.
Instead, we became close friends.
We’ve sat across from each other at probably a hundred meals over more than a decade. We’ve challenged each other (geez, he really liked hot sauce).
Together, we pushed back.
We had real, uncomfortable conversations about things most people are too scared to even mention, because somebody might post a screenshot and try to get you fired from your life.
But even though we disagreed, we never fought.
We never stormed off.
And we never even thought of ending our friendship.
Now I’ll be honest: Jabez’s story is hard not to respect.
This is a man who went from homeless high school dropout… to financial analyst at Nordstrom… then built and sold an award-winning marketing agency (well, I mean, he had help)… then walked away from it all to co-found Sisu Academy, a tuition-free boarding high school for underserved kids.
A guy like that has earned the right to see the world differently. And over ten years, I’ll admit that we’ve started agreeing on more things. Not because someone “won.” But because we kept listening long enough to understand why the other person believed what they believed.
Because in this country, we’ve lost the ability to be in the room with someone who disagrees with us.
And that’s not just a political problem. It’s a spiritual one.
Jesus didn’t surround Himself with people who already had perfect theology and a matching yard sign. He sat down with tax collectors, fishermen, zealots, and Roman soldiers… People who lived in completely different worlds. What He modeled is something we’ve nearly forgotten:
You can love someone deeply and still disagree with them completely.
The chaos you see on social media, in Washington, in the culture—so much of it comes down to this one missing skill. And maybe the most radical thing you can do right now isn’t to “win” an argument.
Maybe it’s to sit across from someone who sees it differently… and actually listen.
Jabez did that for me.
I like to think I did it for him too.
Ed Rush is a former U.S. Marine Corps F-18 fighter pilot, 5-time #1 best-selling author, and business consultant who translates high-performance cockpit principles into strategies for companies. For more information, click here. The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views.
