Reason, Season, Lifetime...

There is a well known poem called "Reason, Season, Lifetime" that is about friendship. The gist of the poem is to state that there are three types of friends. A friend that is in your life for a reason, a friend that is there for a season and a friend that is there for a lifetime. While I can pinpoint different friends in my life who fit in each of these categories, I also believe that there are hidden gems out there that defy these three categories and gain the title "best friend". Why do I believe this? Because after 21 years of just having reason, season and lifetime friends I found one of those hidden gems. Now I have many incredible friends that I love with all my heart and whose friendships I would not trade for anything, but in my world, there can only be 1 "best".

This is my really crazy, fun loving, big dreaming, incredibly talented, God loving, beautiful inside and out best friend, Liv. Yeah, she's pretty awesome! Liv and I have only known each other four years but yet I think we both feel like we have been friends forever.

As friends we have done a whole lot of things together. We have this “talent” of finding fun (aka trouble) wherever we go or creating it…which is usually at someone else’s expense! It is said that well behaved women never make history, therefore we have done everything we can to “make history”! :) Over our friendship there is no telling how many cups of Splenda sweet tea we have drank, gallons of ice cream we have eaten, hours of movies we have watched, miles we have run, texts we have sent while sitting right next to each other in a room full of people, how many golf balls we have lost while attempting to "play", skymiles we have racked up while traveling around the world, blank stares we've received from total strangers due to the random crazy things we do, or how many dressing room "mishaps" we’ve had while shopping together!

We have a crazy friendship that all started when we were thrown in a hotel room together as chaperons on a youth ski trip. I knew we could get along and be good friends the first night there when she walked out of the bathroom, shut the door, adjusted her pants and said "I think I’d let that one air out for a while!” We walked away casual friends who hung out every now and then and talked occasionally. After graduating from college in May I moved to Milan, TN to work and start seminary. The day I moved she gave me a card and called me her "best friend". This was odd to me. We really didn't know each other, but yet as I read her letter I realized she saw things in me that I never knew existed...

I started this blog so I could share the "ordinary moments, people, things and thoughts God uses to teach me EXTRAordinary lessons." Now there is nothing ordinary about Liv or our friendship, but He has definitely used her to teach me extraordinary lessons. I could tell many stories of how God has used Liv to teach me extraordinary lessons about life and Himself, but I think I'll just share one.

I came home a few months after I moved for a week long fall break and we spent most of that time together. We jokingly say that our best friend-ness was established that week when I helped her cater a wedding and make the cake. Although it was quite the entertainment, I don't think that was our "best friend" moment. It was a few days after Christmas and we were hanging out with our group of friends one night and she and I did not see eye to eye on something and as a result we both lied about things. Well this did not make either one of us happy so later that night we found ourselves sitting in her car (which by the way has housed 100's of conversations solving all of lives issues!) talking through things. It was at that moment that the deal was made. Not a deal to be best friends, but a deal that if we were going to be best friends that 2 things would always be true. #1 We would always be 100% honest with each other no matter the situation, the hurt or the difficulty. Always. #2 We would keep each other accountable for our actions in and life and that we will always have each others back no matter what was going on......We've held true to those two things and I think we can both say that we are better people because of it.

Needless to say that over our friendship we've shared a whole lot of things… we’ve shared laughs and tears. We've shared our dreams and our fears. We've even shared toothbrushes and tootsie pops! There are two things that we share that I will treasure forever. The first thing I will always treasure are the hours upon hours of conversations we have had together about every topic under the sun. Many of those I can’t share or else she would straight up kill me!

The second thing that I will always treasure is a rope. Not a physical rope, but a rope that exceeds all distances and a rope that never frays, breaks, or slips from our hands. A rope of accountability and support. A rope that I will always hold tight and a rope that I know is being held tight.

There are many mountains that we climb and many valleys that we dredge through in life and some days I might think there's no way I can do this. However, I know that I have someone there holding the rope, lifting me up in prayer and constantly reminding me that God is in control. Liv has taught me about "reason, season or lifetime", but not in the friend relem. If anything, she has taught me to be a lifetime follower of Christ. Not just to follow Him for a reason if I need something or for a season where things are going my way, but for a lifetime. Always serving God no matter what.

Last October Liv began dating the man of her dreams and just a few short days after dating him she told that she would marry him. If anyone else in my life would have told me that I would have laughed at them, but I knew she was right.

This last weekend I had the incredible privilege of standing beside my best friend as she married her prince charming. I am not an "emotional person", but as soon as she began walking down the aisle my emotions got the best of me. Not bad emotions that my best friend was getting married, but an indescribable joy to see my best friend so incredibly happy. Words cannot describe the joy that overwhelmed me and the happiness that I have for her and Brian! I cannot wait to see how God uses them to do BIG things here and in Africa!

While it's weird that she's married, we're still best friends. Most people told us our friendship would never be the same, but the week before her wedding she and I decided we were going to defy those odds and we will always be holding the rope for each other.

As we both begin new adventures in our lives it's good to know that God is control and that there is someone there praying us through. No matter who we add into our lives, how many miles separate us or what mountains and valleys we climb we can rest on 2 things. #1 God is in control and #2 we're always holding the rope and we have each others back. It's good to know that I have someone willing and ready to kick my butt if I do something that I'm not supposed to do! It's good to know that there's always someone there pushing me to be more like God and to seek His face with everything in me...

To my best friend, congrats! AND thanks...There are not enough words or blog posts to thank you for allowing God to use you as an tool for His glory.

To the rest of you... are you reason, season or lifetime? Now I'm not talking about what kind of friend you are, but what kind of follower are you? Are you just following God for a certain reason or just for a season while things are going good or are you willing to follow Him for a lifetime...No matter the mountains or the valleys...

How Refreshing to Know...How Amazing to Find...

Wow! It's been six weeks since I blogged last and it's simply because I have been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off! (And yes after killing the chicken to the right in Africa I know that phrase all to well!)Lots went on over the past six weeks. Everything from big events to little tasks and crazy things like everything just not wanting to work when trying to get ready for kamp to breaking down on the side of the interstate at 11pm with a van full of middle schoolers on the way back from Atlanta! Needless to say it's been an interesting six weeks.
Kidz Kamp with the 4th-6th graders came and went and like always, it was AWESOME!

I love spending time with the kids and I love when my world from Pelham and my world from Milan come together and enjoy a week together! I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of kamp from teaching the kids and watching them ride the zip-line and climb the wall to spending time with some of my favorite people in the world!

After kamp (and my 25th birthday...ugh!) I turned right around and went on the church wide mission trip to Moulton, AL and had a long, but rewarding week working there.

After mission trip I had a few short days to chill and then pretty much jumped into getting ready for Jr Kidz Kamp. While getting ready for Jr Kamp I had the pleasure of helping my best friend prepare for her wedding and the joy of standing beside her on her big day! You can read more about that experience in my next blog! :)

This past week was spent at Jr Kidz Kamp with crazy 1st-3rd graders in the big city of Tishomingo, MS at the state park. While the conditions are not very desirable, a great time was had by all! I LOVE this kamp. I love

that after the shaving cream fight when we go down to the creek to wash off that a few of us take our razors and make good use of all that shaving cream! I love that I get to be a big kid and throw my body down the 100ft slip-n-slide! (Even though as I type this my back hurts every time I take a deep breath!) I love that I get to flip kids out of their inner-tube at the creek when they splash me! I love teaching them about God's Word and watching their light bulbs come on when they get it! I just love spending time with some of my favorite people! Now I love both kamps, but this one just makes me smile! :) Why? Because of the looks on the kids faces while they are there. While at kamp they get to ride down a 100ft slip-n-slide as many times as their little bodies can take it, ride a rather large zip-line, do crafts, play super soaker summer softball (try saying that 4 times fast!), swim, have a shaving cream fight, inner-tube down a creek and a few other things. Most of the kids who come have never done any of these things. It's an awesome thing to watch when they do one of the things for the first time. Their faces simply light up and it's like they're doing the best thing in the world. They can't believe that they can slip-n-slide as much as they want to or that it's OK to throw rocks into the creek or that they can take shaving cream and squirt it all over everyone. It's simply amazing to them! It absolutely blows their minds that they get to do some of the things they get to do. Almost every year a kid stands in awe at canteen simply because they can buy any kind of candy and drink they want to and no one is going to stop them. It's great! They simply are thrilled that we let them do those things! LOVE IT!

Just like the kids stood in awe at the things they got to do, I too stood in awe at both Shocco and Tishomingo. Both moments came at the same time of kamp and both times I walked away scratching my head...10 years ago I went to these kamps as a counselor and fell in love with them. Three years later Niki asked me to work for her and help her do the kamps and honestly, I still don't understand why she chose to take a chance on me, but I am forever grateful! The next year we stepped out and decided to not only do everything for kamp, but write the curriculum for it also. Since that year we continue to do so and wow...I stand amazed.

Each night at kamp we have a campfire and the last night we use that time as our commitment/decision time. It is a time where the kids can approach a counselor and talk with them if they feel like God is speaking to them. I usually step away from the group, pray for the kids and counselors and watch as God moves. This year I stood in awe. As kids began to get out of their seats my heart began to stir. At both kamps children prayed and received Christ! Pure awesomeness! As I stood and watched tears began to fill my eyes and my heart began to ask why. Why God? Why have you blessed me beyond what I could ever imagine? Why do you choose to use me? Why am I a part of the chosen vessel in which you deliver your message to the kids? Why do you speak to my heart and give me the talent and words to write? Why? I am so incredibly not worthy. I am nothing, but a dirty, filthy, rotten sinner who is worthy of nothing, but your wrath. God, you don't need me, but yet you want me. You choose to use me. I stand in awe. I felt like a kid standing in front of the slip-n-slide or on top of the zip-line or at canteen who simply could not believe that they were allowed to do these awesome things.

I definitely do not understand why, but I will always thank Him and praise Him for it. We are not worthy, but yet He makes us worthy. May I never be able to get over the fact that the God of the universe allows me to be a part of the incredible things He is doing. I think Casting Crowns hit the nail on it's head when they wrote "In Me"...

'Cause when I'm weak, You make me strong

When I'm blind you shine Your light on me

'Cause I'll never get by living on my own ability

How refreshing to know You don't need me

How amazing to find that You want me

So I'll stand on Your Truth,

and I'll fight with Your Strength

Until You bring the victory,

by the power of Christ in me

To reach out with Your hands

To learn through Your eyes

To love with the love of a savior

To feel with Your heart and

to think with Your mind

I'd give my last breath for Your glory...