When my family and I moved across continents, our lives were stripped down, and being in a new place made everything about three steps harder. I realized in those situations how desperately I needed friends. Real friends, who would plop down on my back porch while our kids got muddy, and who would swap their …
While back, I got together with a friend over coffee. We were working on a project, and I noticed we weren’t on the same page. We were going to meet for one hour. We spent the first 45 minutes talking about sports and other trivial things. Just as I was about to bring up the …
Confidante. A shoulder to cry on. Bosom buddy. We’ve all needed these people, and played these roles too at different times in our lives. It isn’t a role to be taken lightly, however. When people are at their most vulnerable, that’s often when whatever we say or do can have the biggest impact. Well-intentioned but …
At the beginning of my third year of University, I took two bags and all the courage I could muster, and got on a plane to spend the next four months across the world. Since I learned that studying abroad would be compatible with the academic requirements for my major in Political Science, I welcomed …
When a close friend of mine shared with me through a text that she was no longer a Christian, I foolishly replied with three insensitive words: “Are you legit?” She was someone I had grown up with in church, and we had served together in various ministries. Although younger than me, she spoke with much …
The year is 2002, and I’m in middle school. The girls seem freakishly tall and wear a lot of eyeshadow. The boys are mostly obsessed with video games. In youth group, they split us up sometimes. The eyeshadow-wearing girls go off into one room, and the video-game-playing boys go off into another. I’m never quite …
The older we get, the more likely we are to face trials; call it growing up, if you will. And even if trials don’t plague us, we’re bound to hear of loved ones who have to face them. Over the years, I’ve heard from different friends about the struggles they have had to go through. …
We’ve all been on the receiving end of either unintentional or intentional hurtful remarks. But how we respond makes all the difference—as I learned for myself on one journey back home. That day, my friends and I were having a discussion about a recent film. For some reason, I was lost in thought and didn’t …
“My life is incomplete. I’m still waiting until my knight in shining armor swings by on his horse, scoops me up in his arms, and takes me away in the distant sunset! And then, I’ll feel complete.” I laughed at that comment, along with others who attended the talk on relationships that evening. But as …
Christian friendship is arguably the most important kind of human-to-human relationship needed in the life of every Christian, yet seldom talked about—unlike marriage. After all, the Bible does not expect that all will be married, but it does expect people to be in community, so that they can grow in maturity, encourage one another, and experience …
WHY DO WE CONFESS OUR SINS TO GOD, BUT NOT TO ONE ANOTHER? Read More »
