Category Archives: Friends

Sep 20 2012

Loyalty & Bravery

‎”You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin–to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours–closer than you yourself keep it. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway: there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the ring. We are terribly afraid–but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.” ~ Meriadoc Brandybuck

I know I’ve talked about this before, but I forgot about this quote from the book series, The Lord of the Rings. I read it the other day, and it reminded me that loyalty and bravery go hand in hand. Continue reading →

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Aug 23 2012

Dangerous Business

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Well, by the time most of you read this, I’ll be on the road. I’m taking a much-needed vacation, and my best friend and I are going to visit Ryan & Janae Dagen!!! I am really excited to see them.

For those of you who don’t know, quick back story on the relationship between Ryan and I. Ryan used to be the youth pastor at Gap Community Church. During that time, I pretty much functioned as his assistant youth pastor, in addition to the other duty’s of my job, since I was employed by GCC at the time. Continue reading →

Music the great connector
Jul 5 2012

Music, The Great Connector

Music is so incredibly important and incredibly powerful that it has this ability to connect us. It can connect us to people, and it can connect us to God. Music has a way of digging deep into our souls & connecting us with the God who created us.

When God made us, he made us as both physical and spiritual beings. I believe that is what the bible meant when it said that we were made in God’s image. The reason we were made to be spiritual beings is so we would have the ability and the desire to connect communicate with God, which translates to connecting to others as well, and I believe the language of heaven is music. Continue reading →

Jun 21 2012

I Need a Good Cry… And a Solution

I don’t know how many of you know this, but I guess I need to take some time and be transparent about all of this stuff going on in my life, because trying to not get stressed about it, or not letting the stress show is getting tiring. So very tiring… (sorry if this post is more whining than normal, but I need to get this out) Continue reading →

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May 31 2012

Reunions & Best Friends

2 of my best friends arrived home last night.

They have been traveling around the country, seeking themselves & God. (you can read about their trip here)

After they got back, we hung out at my house. It was amazing to me how we could all pick right back up where we left off in our friendships, almost like they had never left.

But they had.

And they when they came back, they weren’t the same people, but that is a good thing.

There is a beautiful thing that happens when friends pursue God individually and together. It’s that similar passion for the pursuit of God that allows miles and months to separate us, yet we never grow apart…

The more I’ve spent time with other people, hear their stories, I have realized how rare it is that I actually have a GROUP of friends like that, when many people don’t even have ONE…

I can’t wait to see where God calls us all to in the future, and while I’ll be sad if/when that calling separates us, I take peace and joy in knowing that it is because we are all passionately pursuing God, and I know that no matter the miles or the months, we will always be close friends.

Thoughts on Friendship
Apr 5 2012

Thoughts on Friendship

“When you can’t run anymore, you crawl, and when you can’t crawl – when you can’t do that, you find someone to carry you.” ~ Firefly

I spend a lot of time talking about friends.

But that is because friendship is one of the most important things to get you through life. They are the ones to laugh in your joy, cry in your pain, and pull you along when you don’t have the strength.

But what is a true friend? In an age where you “friend request” someone on Facebook after meeting them for 5 min, I wonder if we have lost the true meaning of what it means to be a friend… Continue reading →

Knowing God
Apr 3 2012

Knowing God

“We forfeit that birthright [intimacy with God] when we take folks through a discipleship program whereby they master any number of Christian precepts and miss the most important thing of all, the very thing for which we were created: intimacy with God. There are, after all, those troubling words Jesus spoke to those who were doing all the “right” things: “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you’” (Matt 7:23). Knowing God. That’s the point.”
~ John Eldredge, “Waking the Dead”, pg 96

What a powerful statement. When those who always “did the right thing” stood before God, He said “I never knew you”. We try so hard to be “Good Christians” we go to church every Sunday, we read this book, or that book, we play in the worship band, we serve on a church committee or volunteer in one of the ministries, because, that’s what good christians do, right? Continue reading →

Mar 6 2012

Sickness & Insecurities

You probably noticed that I missed my post on Thursday. That was because I was sick. I left work early Wednesday because I couldn’t work, and then Thursday I worked for one hour before going home and sleeping the rest of day away.

Then Friday we had a kick-off party thing for my 2 best friends before they left for their trip. Saturday morning, I had to get up early to practice for a play for church, so I only had the chance to say a quick goodbye while they were half-asleep.

Their leaving was much harder on me for me this time for some reason…

Much harder… Continue reading →

Go and Be
Feb 23 2012

Leaving, Round 2

Well, it’s that time again, everyone is getting ready to leave… again…

Somehow, it seems both harder and easier this time.

In about 9 days, Cameron & Tyler will be leaving for the second part of their trip, but this time, they will be joined by Josh! (you can read the announcement here) They have some really cool idea’s for this leg of the trip, but we’re not ready to publicly announce it yet, so check out their blog for that announcement soon! All I can say about it is that it gave me the reason I needed to buy a piece of equipment I’ve wanted for a while now :) . It is easier, because they’ve already been gone for a while, so this isn’t something new, but it’s harder because I’ve just started to get used to them being home again…

But they aren’t the only one’s leaving soon… Continue reading →

True Love
Jan 10 2012

True Love

We throw this phrase around all the time. We want “true love” with the one we want to marry. We say things like “if you truly love me, you would _________.”

The other day, I posted this on my Facebook:

True love (even in a friendship kinda way) is finding joy in watching someone live & move in their passions, even knowing that it will probably take them away from you… Continue reading →