Friends In New Places

I thought I would share with you an unexpected result of creating this blog and actually trying to share pieces of my life and heart in writing: I have been able to meet new people and have conversations about God and life due to things I've shared on the site. It is especially humbling since I have made my fair share of mistakes over the years.

You may say, "Chris, how do you find this surprising when you work in IT and know that what you post on the web is accessible to anyone?" Yeah, I know that. But I really didn't expect anyone to find the site or find anything that I have shared particularly worthwhile, other than curious family members and friends. Let me introduce you to a couple people who found the site through Google or stumbled across the site and found more than what they were expecting.

I have exchanged emails with my new friend, Nick. He has been serving on a deployment to Iraq as an aircraft mechanic. While looking at his dog tags and noticing that "No Preference" was listed under the religion section, he began to give more thought to pursuing a relationship with Christ. And somehow he found the site while searching for answers to questions he had about God and how he could get to know God. Thus began our communication and our friendship. Keep Nick and his family in your prayers. Nick, thanks for all you do in serving our country and I am excited about your newfound relationship with Jesus.

The next person I am going to introduce you to I will have to be a little more discreet because some of you may know him. I definitely don't want to share anything and make anyone feel uncomfortable. For this reason, let me introduce you to a friend of mine who I know through work. Let's call him Boudreaux. (I could have used Tom or Bob or something generic, but hey, I'm from Louisiana.) Boudreaux was very involved in church a number of years ago but for whatever reason, even unknown to him, he stopped going. The years slipped by. I gave him my site address to share some pictures of Ian with him, and he went to the site. He caught me off guard the following week when he told me that he saw a different side of me after going to the site. This concerned me initially because I don't want to be one way part of the time and a totally different person another time. He calmed me by telling me that he meant that he was inspired by reading my blog, that for the first time in a long time he felt a desire or need to go to church. Join with me in praying for Boudreaux that God will continue to stir his heart and will touch him and his family in their areas of need.

I'm thankful for the friendships God has given me, especially the ones that have been started and cultivated in the unlikeliest of places.

(OK, so fault me for having that dumb Garth Brooks "Friends In Low Places" song stuck in my head as I was trying to think of a title for this blog post. Blame it all on my roots.)