Friends

This past weekend Nate, Ron, Kevin, Jeremiah, and I met in Grant's Pass, OR to celebrate the upcoming union of Nate and Chrissy. By celebrate, I, of course, mean eating and drinking a large amount every night and spending countless hours in a tattoo shop getting art on our bodies that will outlast our lives. This is the third of such trips (starting with Kevo's 3 years ago, then a combination of mine and Ron's last February.) While on the surface, it looks like these trips are a simply an excuse for us to get together and do things that we can't get away with at home, it is actually much more than that.

These trips have served as a rejuvenating time for us as friends. I've yet to meet anyone who has friends with as deep of a bond as we have. These four guys have been with me through everything. They have been there when things are great (i.e. my wedding) and when things couldn't get any worse (i.e. the funeral of Kevin Ingles, a student in my old youth group) and everywhere in between. It is truly amazing to have friendships that I know will never be broken. I know that lame ex-girlfriends, arguments, disagreements, and/or distance will never be enough to break the friendship we have.

We're there for each other. We uplift each other. We encourage each other. We have conversations about meaningless things (i.e. fantasy football, MTV, beer) to the most important topics (relationships with our wives/fiancés, social justice, God). These discussions are often deep and impactful. We listen to each other and respect each view. We care for each other, being there to lift a brother up in hard times or celebrate together in good times.

I'm so thankful for the friendships I have with these guys. I'm excited to continue doing life with them, despite being over 1200 miles away from three of them. I will have these friendships for as long as I live. Even though I don't have any brothers, I know that my kids will have an Uncle Nate, Uncle Ron, Uncle Kevin, and Uncle Jeremiah.