I got together with some of my closest friends this weekend to celebrate my 28th Birthday that happened on Monday. Another year has passed and it would be easy for me to share with you a long list of things that have changed. Some of those changes have been good, some have not been so good. Although one person from that picture is missing (Andy got a phone call from us during dinner) I wouldn’t have wanted to spend a Monday night with anyone else. So let me tell you about the folks in that picture.
The guy directly behind me in blue is Marcus and the tall guy behind him is Tyler. Those two guys have come alongside of me these past few months during some very serious trials and have been a great source of Godly encouragement after many other friends were cut off from me. The guy on the far back left and wearing blue is Ewout and the guy next to him in black is Brad. Those guys are new roommates that I didn’t have last year. Both of them are from vastly different cultures (Ewout is from Holland and Brad is from Canadia) and both of them speak foreign languages (Ewout speaks Dutch and Brad speaks Canadian). The guy in the red hoody is Jeremy and he just got an internship at an Accounting Firm for the summer. He is also another guy who knows a lot about me and loves me anyways. They guy wearing a baseball cap backwards is Sam my RA. He is from Australia and I love him to pieces. He is the best (only) RA I’ve ever had. The only guy on the right hand side is Ian. He’s kind of shy but he’s a Chapel Media geek and I’m after his job for next year. The last guy in the middle that I’m hugging is Ryan. He is by far the most mature 18 year-old I’ve ever met. Their may be a decade between us but he is a great guy who loves Jesus and loves others better than most guys twice his age.
You’ll also notice that in this picture are some girls.* The girl on my right in the hat is Melody and she is dating Marcus. She’s a nice gal and very funny and especially patient with Marcus (I should have warned her). The girl standing at the end on the far right is Leanne. Leanne is dating Tyler and she is also a nice patient gal, especially with Tyler. In between Leanne and Melody is Brighton. She is a newcomer to my circle of friends and tonight was a great night for all of us to get to know her better. Brighton is wing mates with Melody and was also the understudy for Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Earnest. Finally, the gal in green is Emily. Emily may seem quiet and shy but when you get right down to is she is one funny lady! She is good friends with Sam, Jeremy and she is practically a sister to Ryan.
And for the most part those are my friends. There are a few more that have I’ve recently gotten closer to that are from the Cast, but at least now you all have a better idea of the people that God has put in my life at this point in time. I think one of the things that I learned this past year is that my friends don’t belong to me. I don’t own them or have a special claim to them. They can be gone and out of my life at any moment that God wills. My responsibility is not to cling to them or place them on pedestals. My responsibility is to treat them like a brother or sister in Christ by loving them with His love and serving them as a slave.
As Dorothy once said,
“People come and go so quickly around here…”
-Dorothy Gale: Wizard Of Oz
