friends, slowing down, and life...

Warning!!! This post will not sound like rocket science (I know this will surprise all of you who know me really well). Maybe it will even sound cliche'ish... But here it goes...

At times in life we get so busy. I have looked back so many times at months of my life and thought, "what the heck are you doing...". I have found myself literally running myself until I get sick. We've prolly all done this at times in our life and prolly all do it more than we should. I am not saying this is all bad cause I believe in hard work, vision, working with passion, and treating things like they are worth working towards. What I am saying is for me, I let things get out of line when it comes to what's really important.

For the last 6 months I have prayed that God would lead me to slow down and enjoy life. That He would bring me a group of friends to share life with. That my wife and I would grow closer and learn more about each other. I am not saying that I have completely arrived anywhere close to where I would like to be with this but the last month of my life has been amazing in this regard. I feel like I've spent time with people. I feel like I have loved people, been loved by people, served people, been served by people... I gotta tell you, there is just something to sharing life in community.

Last weekend I went to the mountains with my wife and the band, I called a few friends just to say "hello", I hung out with some people that would never come to church... this week I had lunch with a friend just to catch up (thanks Chris), had a picnic with my wife, I got to buy a guy lunch who has no money, went to the State Fair with my roommate from college, and tonight I had dinner and hung out with some of my best friends in the world...

There are times in life when I just feel like I am getting things all wrong (happens every day - hah) but every now and then some things feel right. Loving others and being loved feels right... Thanks to all who play a part in that in my life... I am sure within the next day or two I'll forget all this and I will go back to ignoring myself and other people's problems for the sake of getting "stuff" done... but until then I am going to enjoy a breath of fresh air and say thanks to our God that wakes us up and let's us breathe... and enjoy the relationships God has given me...

Hope you guys all have a great weekend...

Much Love,

-J