8/8/04

I went to LA last week for a wedding, and it gave me an opportunity to think and reflect a little bit. Of course, even though I've wanted to write about it, this week has been one of my most crazy weeks since I started working, and I've had very little time. Sometimes, I'll catch a little lull at work - or I'll create one, to be more honest - in which I have an opportunity to write. But I would just feel really guilty doing that at work, even though what I usually do during my breaks isn't any better - like going to ESPN.com for the 100th time in the day.

Anyway, one of the things I realized the most was that I am really lucky to have the friends that I have from college. I spent a lot of those UCLA (and Young Nak) years kind of wishing I had different friends. That sounds harsh, but it's not really how it sounds. What I mean is that I spent a lot of time wishing that I had friends that were like me. One of the great blessings and hardest trials of my ministry and relational experience at YN was that it was such a diverse set of people. Not from an ethnic standpoint, but from a social and personality standpoint. I had friends that were the traditional study hard and go to a good school type, some that were the not really sure what I want to do so I'll work or go to JC for awhile or go back and forth between the two type, and some that were the artist type - Pasadena Art Center and the like. Anyway, my own closer set of friends is also made up of people that are different, and probably none that are the same type of person. My friend Rich is going to Fuller Seminary, and he's one of the least likely seminarians you'll meet. He isn't that traditional church guy, but he's always thinking in a more socially relevant context, and that's where his real desire is. My friend Dave, he was a fireman turned Coast Guard turned LAPD, and now turned back to fireman. He's one of the most disciplined and responsible people that I have ever known, and he's the only one I know that's taken a taser shot and gotten pepper sprayed in the eyes (twice!). My friend Bert is probably the most similar to me out of these guys. But he's pretty cooky too. I would say we're both more of the academic, bordering on nerdy, type, and we both are musical and spend too much money on our gear. But I would definitely say that I spent a lot of time feeling like I didn't really fit in with these guys. Maybe is was the NorCal mindset down in LA, and just kind of coming from a different background than them, but I never felt like I was understood, or that it was natural. Sometimes, I felt like our friendships were just forced - like we had to be friends because we went to the same church and were the same year and did ministry together.

Anyway, I would say the four of us kind of became a group, even though we were almost never around LA at the same time. Bert, who Dave has been friends with since high school, came to YN when Dave left for the Coast Guard, and I left by the time Dave came back to LA, and now Bert is off to New York with his new bride, Stacy (who's wedding we were in town for, on a sidenote). Anyway, my point is, I realize more and more how lucky I am to have friends like these. One of the ways I've realized this is how these guys treat Miriam. I mean, they are so gracious in their own way to her, and it's kind of showed me how much they care about me. I mean, they go out of their way to make her feel comfortable, to stay out way too late just to hang out, even if they've just gotten back from Afghanistan and are probably completely wiped out from their journey. We stayed out until past 2 am on Sunday night, after the wedding, even though I had to get to LAX by 6:15 to catch a flight and work a full day on Monday. And you know what? Dave and Rich hung out with Miriam again on Monday for lunch before she left to come back up. I mean, how nice is that!

Anyway, this is kind of a cyberspace shout out to my boys - Rich, Dave and Bert. You guys are awesome friends, and I was proud to have you guys standing up there with me for my wedding, and proud to stand with you all for Bert's. But yo, you bachelors, when are you guys going to get hooked up? Are you going to be bachelors til the rapture? Also a side shout out to the other friends that were hanging out on Sunday - Al, Becky, Robin, Tim, Rich, Milee. It was fun hanging out, hearing the same stories for the umpteenth time.