How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes

I've been thinking a lot in the last few days about my future and what it would look like to not live on the Ranch. I've had several people in the last week or so ask me what I'm going to do when my time with Mark 2 is "up" in a few months; will I stay on or will I head Back East?

Honestly, I don't know at the moment. For a long while, it was a definite, I'll head back East and then there was a time that I thought maybe I could be out here for longer than expected. Sometimes I feel like I'm looking at the situation with blinders on - not knowing if there is a clear path to take.

As I sit on my front porch at twilight (more to come on that subject soon, I promise) I listen to Mumford & Sons, freezing because it is not quite spring here yet and contemplate what's next in life. I have grown to love this place more than I thought. I mean, how could you not when this is what you see at sunrise?

And at the same time, how can you compare it to home?

How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes.

and another thing...friends

I've heard my dad say several times in my life the term "and another thing...friends". This meaning that you have those friends that you may not be in your everyday life, but when you talk, it's like nothing has changed nor has it felt like any time has passed. It's like conversation is more like "oh hey, and another thing is..." No matter what happens or where y'all are at, you pick up your life/conversation like nothing has changed...like conversation and your friendship just keeps going. It picks up where you left off, like no time has passed.

Meet Sam Winks. Sam is one of those "and another thing" friends. This picture was taken in August of '07 at our friends, the Signorinis' house. Sam and I have been friends for...well I can't remember exactly how long, but it's got to be somewhere in the 7 - 10 year range. I believe we met and became friends at Rockbridge at some point, but honestly I can't remember. When I moved to Jasper, Georgia to Young Life's SharpTop Cove almost 5 years ago (August '06), Sam was going to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). At this point we had been friends for years, but never lived in the same city (Sam's from Richmond). Sam often came to STC on the weekends to help Wrangle. I remember the very first weekend that Sam came to STC when I was there. It was like a piece of Virginia while living in Georgia. I was so excited to see him and to hang out with him whenever I could.

Well our friendship went from a friend you enjoyed hanging out with whenever you happened to see each other to having a friend you enjoyed living life together that following summer - summer '07 when Sam was the summer bike intern at STC. That summer, especially the end of the summer, was filled with great memories of adventures to find tshirts, sitting on the roof of The Mill, or just simply hanging out.

Sam and I have seen each other maybe two or three times since that summer - once when I lived in DC and an other time being this past July when I was in Richmond. The thing with Sam is that we may not hang out a ton or even talk but every couple months, but when we get on the phone with each other, our conversations are never less than an hour. And no matter where I'm at in life or how confused I am on a certain situation or life in general, Sam is often quick to listen, slow to speak, and great at giving advice.

I talked to Sam on Wednesday night for about an hour and it felt like we were on the phone for about 3 minutes. It's really a neat blessing to see where the Lord has brought Sam on this journey called life. It's an even bigger blessing to have a friend who knows you well and can be a person of encouragement in life - to be a person to call and say "and another thing is..."

I think we all need those friends.....friends like Sam.