Sometimes I Write

A few months ago I posted an article about my girl friends. You can read it here. I wrote about God using our friends to not only minister to our bodies when we are sick (by bringing by a pot of soup or a carton of Orange Sherbet), but to minister to our hearts and spirits as well. I am beyond blessed in the friendship department! I not only have girl friends that love me and care for my heart, I have several guy friends that do the same thing – only in their guy sort of way. So I’m doing things a bit differently in this post to honor those men in my life that love me like a sister and treat me accordingly.
This is Lennie and I actually am his sister by blood. Being his sister of the heart is an added bonus and blessing. I’m 2 years older. We are as close as any siblings could ever be. He is my partner in crime and sarcasm, and my closest guy friend other than my husband. He’s an expert in several forms of martial arts, has a heart the size of Texas, and is a gifted wood worker. He’s been protecting me ever since I can remember. He is a warrior and truly amazing. And he lives too far away! (MN)

This is my 2 for 1 shot of my favorite ministry guys on the planet. That’s Adam on the left and Chris on the right. This picture was taken a few weeks ago at Camp Zenith – our first point of connection. I have watched both of them grow and change from youth interns to youth ministers, to Adam pursuing other adventures in ministry. Adam is my Yoda that I mention every now and then. He is responsible for me joining the blogging world, and I ask him a lot of tough questions. 😉 He’s a talented writer, photographer, sports nut, and we share a love of books. He lives in AL – notice the shirt. Chris is my athletic, guitar playing, Texan friend and the breaker of many hearts now that he’s in a serious dating relationship. 😉 I’m grateful for the encouragement they’ve both given me in the blogosphere and out of it. They are both part of our ministry care team for SEVENS, and have both been to Colorado to stay with us and see our ministry up close and personal. They care for my heart, lift my husband up, and love on our children. We keep in touch through blogs, emails, and cell phones since we all live so far apart. Adam and Chris are Godly men doing their best to make a difference in this world. They’ve definitely made a difference in mine!

Meet Jared. Most of you know him by his blogging name, KingJaymz. Jared is located in the great Northwestern state of WA. He found me on the web through mutual friends about a year ago and we’ve been challenging and lifting each other up ever since. We are similar in personality (scary), though a lot of our favorite things in life are quite different. He’s got a lot in common with my husband and they’ve become good friends, which I love because Benny once said, “your blogging friends aren’t your REAL friends”. lol Jared calls me “Sis” which used to really bug me, but I have come to love the term of affection from this guy who is like my brother. In fact, we are closer to each other than we are most of our siblings. (Lennie being the exception of course.) We share the common passion and goal of opening up discussion about hard issues and the church. Jared is a co-author on my Sex, Love, and Marriage Blog.

Last, but certainly not least comes Billy. He’s my worship band leader and an all around nice guy. (I know you told me not to tell anyone Billy – I couldn’t resist.) 😉 He’s the only one on this list that lives close to me. I’ve only known Billy about a year and a half and in that time he has helped me find my voice. I’ve always had it, but Billy called it forth and challenged me, drawing out my courage and confidence. I no longer have the stage fright I’ve suffered from since junior high and I’ve come to this place of deep joy and fulfillment in leading worship at our church with him and the rest of the band. He pushes me to be who God wants me to be, and we occasionally enjoy deep conversations about life – where we came from and where we’re going. He’s a very talented musician and I tease him about name dropping since he met so many famous people during his Seattle Days. He makes me a better musician just by being who he is. He’s a computer whiz, and a great husband and father. Our friendship is new, but it is being passed on to the next generation – our 7 year old boys are best friends.

There you go. Five awesome guys that I love and am blessed to know!

I am so flattered to have received this award from Heather. The rules say I have to pass it on to 5 people, even though Heather cheated and only sent it to three. I guess that makes me special since I was one of three instead of one of five. 😉 Thanks Heather!

I hereby bestow this award on:

Tawnya, Chelf, Jennifer, Peach, and The Redheaded Step-Child

This is the Baker Company, a marine unit that was stationed in Iraq. There have been many wars fought since the birth of our country. Some on this soil, and some on other ground. The fight for and defending of freedom was at the heart of every one. Our freedom. Freedom for those who have been persecuted, and freedom from those who would destroy anyone who believes, thinks, and even looks differently than they do.

Today we celebrate our independence. Freedom of Religion, not freedom from it. That was the hope and goal of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Wars are fought for many reasons. But I believe at the core it always comes back to freedom. Say a prayer of thanks for all who have died to defend or protect our freedom…hundreds of years ago…and this week. It’s not just 9-11 we must not forget…

http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

My friend Heather and I spent several hours at a coffee shop this afteroon working on my three blogs. Most of you may not know this, but I have begun posting again on my Supermom blog. I quit posting there almost two years ago, but recently decided to resurrect it, and I’m feeling really good about it. If reading family/children/Mommy stuff is your thing, I hope you’ll check it out. Besides, that url rocked! www.weareheroes.blogspot.com We redesigned the template (Heather did ALL of the hard stuff while I did very little) and added some new features. Go check it out!

You can now subscribe to receive my blog posts by email through a service called Feedblitz. Just type your email address in the little box, click the subscribe button, and wait for the magic to happen. However, I’d still love your input in my comments section, so don’t be a stranger here!

I’ve updated my blogroll as well. If you haven’t posted in 3 months or longer, you’ve been removed. I’m trying to keep my links current. If you really, really want to be linked, send me an email and we’ll chat about it.

Some future blogging plans : Labeling posts, Guest bloggers, and Favorite Things Fridays. I’ll also have an occasional book review to help promote my author friends.

Here are my blog links again:
www.weareheroes.blogspot.com
www.sexloveandmarriage.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading, and special thanks for joining in the discussion!

I actually wrote this last week, but haven’t had a chance to post it until now.

I’m at Camp Zenith this week in OK. I was right about my friend – he hugged me tight again and I felt safe and peaceful in the hug. God is so good to bless me with friends like that. I have given and received more heartfelt hugs today alone that I have in the last year. It’s awesome. The strange thing is that I found myself semi-analyzing each hug received. Was it comfortable? Did the person pat me on the back? Was it a hard hug or a light one? Yes, I know…I say it often…I need to get over myself. My brain works like that sometimes. I got a few side hugs and a few A-frame hugs, but most leaned towards the bear hug model and lasted for more than 3 seconds. All this talk about touch has branched out into a few different areas I want to address regarding touch. This discussion is spilling over into my Sex, Love, and Marriage blog as well. There’s a slightly different focus there, but I’d love for you to check it out.

Every summer since I began blogging, I’ve blogged about my guy friends here. My brothers in Christ who care for my heart like a brother should. This year we have over a dozen new youth ministers joining this adventure we began seven years ago. Every year we meet new men who are brothers in Christ and become brothers of our hearts. Every year we fondly remember those brothers who are no longer part of our camp experience. Every year my husband and I are loved on by these men and at some point during the week I break into tears while thanking God for those hugs, laughs, and hearts. I am filled to overflowing emotionally while being drained physically. It’s a weird experience and I love it.

I almost laughed out loud at our staff meeting today as we began to discuss positive touch/boundaries with campers/ being sensitive to others needs for touch or someone else’s need for space without touch. I can clearly see God moving me through this focus on touch. I thought about my friend Jared who blogged about this topic as well and received some pretty harsh (and nasty) criticism from a few readers. I thought about my friend (anonymous to you, but not to me) who emailed me because she wasn’t sure she could say in a blog what was on her hurting heart. I thought about our street kids that are starving for hugs that don’t have abusive or sexual overtones. There are so many opinions out there. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment to share their views on the subject!

I know there are unbelievers who visit this blog, but I assume it’s mostly believers in Christ. I am NOT saying followers of Jesus have the corner market on positive touch, but I am saying we have access to an intimacy that can not be touched by those who don’t know Christ. Stay with me here…

Jesus was a toucher. When he healed the blind man he could have just said “be healed” but instead he mixed some of his spit with dirt, formed mud, and put it on the man’s eyes, then gave him further instructions about washing away the mud. Interesting… When he healed the leper, he touched him – something that was unheard of. He could have spoken a word, but he knew the deep needs of this man and gave him something he hadn’t experienced in years – human touch. In Mark 10 we read about parents bringing their children to Jesus to be touched/blessed. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus took that moment to teach them that unless we become like those children – accepting the kingdom of God as a gift and not of our own merit, we will not enter it. Then he gathered the children into his arms, hugged and blessed them. Yes, Jesus had a healing touch.

I watched my guys slap each other on the backs and hug each other this week. There were handshakes and wrestling and playful punches thrown. I thought about Jesus and his friends and how they too must have done that. Have you ever thought about that? I think Jesus was all about positive touch. I think positive touch is paramount in this life that is so filled with negative touch already. Don’t you?