What I Had Is What I’ve Still Got (also known as, “Bros”)

Three weeks of disposable time, where I get to call the shots on my schedule!?! It’s beautiful.

I’ve already burned like two of them doing:

-a weekend of Christmas camp at Outback

-actual Christmas with the family

-home video watching to understand my past and freaking out at how awkward I was when I was a seventh grader

-photographer’s assistant work in Fredericksburg with my friend, Chris. He had to shoot a wedding and wanted a friend to keep company on the drive. I got to handle his Nikon and get a few shots in and, let me tell you, since I know what the Rule of Thirds is, I’m probably now on my way to photographic greatness.

Big for me, though: going to Fort Worth to see a friend get married. I’m beginning to understand why weddings are such a big deal. In my mind, it’s kind of been, “well, why not just go to the justice of the peace and then zip out to the honeymoon?” I mean, saves you hassle, plus you get to go straight into connubial bliss.

But weddings are supposed to be, I now realize, celebrations. And reunions. And that is neat.

Most of the guys who showed up to celebrate are good friends whom I haven’t seen since graduating Baylor a couple of months back. I’ve noted that my Forge house in Tyler is beginning to feel like Home in some ways, but sometimes it becomes easy for me to compare the closeness I feel with my Baylor friends to the relationship I have with my current roommates. And Baylor friends win on the closeness meter, hands-down.

Now, it’s not a fair contest. I had four years to build relationships with the guys. By contrast, I’m only running on four months with my current community.

And I still have four to go. Plenty of bromance to be developed.

But it was refreshing. Going from graduation to camp to Forge didn’t leave a lot of time to mourn/reminisce/reflect on the college community I was moving apart from. Being mostly reunited this weekend made me realize what a gift I’ve had– guys who love each other platonically and challenge each other spiritually and dork around consistently. I have to believe Christ is glorified in these things.

And leaving their company after celebrating New Years helped me see that A) they probably will be friends for a lifetime, B) I miss the convenience of constant proximity, and C) why the heck did no one tell me that you have to start all over after you graduate?

Fortunately, I’m going back to an environment where community is emphasized. And instead of being a replacement/threat to the bonds I’ve already built, I now realize it’s a chance to practice the biggest lesson I learned at Baylor:

Love Your Brothers.

And that too… that is neat.