On Saturday night (the 21st), my wife honored me with a birthday party at Buca de Beppo’s. As I sat there with my friends, the mid-life questions I am still pondering were just noise when compared to the gracious beauty of friendship.

Friends – a truly valuable and irreplaceable part of life. Somehow, true friends are able to accept you for who you are today and yet rejoice with you as you become whoever it is that God is making you into. They remember the old you that you really wish everyone would forget while cherishing the person they now know. Moreso, these friends made it clear how obviously they cherished this journey with me as I meandered through the trials of life these past few years.

Special thanks to all of you who shared my birthday with me (even those of you who dishonored Buca tradition by selfishly and adamantly refusing to share their food… yet had no problem sharing ours). The memories of this evening and our friendship are those that I will cherish for years to come. I look forward to what God has in store for us as we continue this grace-filled, providential journey.

Beyond this small group – I want to thank all of the people who have traveled this life with me, however brief our encounters were. After 40 years, I see that every encounter, good and bad, God has used intentionally to shape me and draw me ever nearer to Him. What a revelatory consideration: God uses us in our frailty as precise instruments in every person we come in contact with. Can I use this revelation to inform all of my encounters? I hope so.