Last night I drove down to the Denver area for the wedding of a very dear friend of mine. Six years ago, she and I were in LIFT together, a semester-long discipleship program at Camp of the Woods (COTW) in beautiful Speculator, NY (about 2 hours north of Albany in the Adirondack Mountains). We've been in touch off and on over the years, and it was such a priviledge from above to be able to be at her wedding. I had a good time catching up with old friends: others from our group as well as other groups were there. It was also really cool to meet her friends from college that I had heard about but obviously had never met. The wedding was beautiful. She was beautiful. God is just so good!

Lisa and her Dad walking down the aisle

Talk about an amazing backdrop for your wedding!

Lisa, Marc, and his three children

It was special for me for other reasons than those associated with seeing a good friend get married, which is special enough in its own right. But this was part of something larger that the Lord has been doing. Over the last few months the Lord has begun to redeem certain things from my past and restore them to my present. Last night as I stood under the moon and stars on the veranda of the place where they got married , looking out at the lights of Denver in the distant east, I realized that this was just such another gift from the Lord.

The friendship I had with Lisa six years ago was a caliber of friendship that I had rarely experienced up to that point in my life. We kept in touch for a while, but as life got busy on both ends, our communication tapered off. Most of the folks in my group don't really keep in touch, and that has always grieved me; after all that we experienced together, it is sad that we are not closer than we are. So, that made my friendship with Lisa even more special to me, and yet we too lost touch, for the most part, over the years. But our friendship has always held a very special place in my heart, kind of like pictures of a distant but joyous childhood that you display on the wall, always causing you to tell stories to those seeing the pictures. Those stories usually start off with, "Oh, this was taken when..." or "I remember when this happened...what a day!" or something like that. But you're a different person when you're telling those stories than when you lived them, and there's not going back to those places, though the memories bring you joy. Well, that is the kind of effect that memories of that friendship have had on me.

Well, last night I realized that God had not only preserved Lisa's place in my heart, but He seemed to have preserved my place in hers as well, and that just humbled me to tears and filled my heart with an incredible joy and gratefulness that I just can't describe. It was wonderful to not only see her for the first time in six years, but it was a precious gift to witness her marriage, and not only that but the beginning of her family, as the man she married has three beautiful young children! I was like a dream come true. I hope the Lord will provide ways for us to reconnect and get to know each other again, but it is precious to know that the friendship we had will always be there because it was found in Christ. How amazing it is to be members of that one Body and to experience that kind of one-ness and love!

It was also amazing to be able to catch up with these other friends from that time in my life. To talk with them and see how they have changed and hear what the Lord has been doing in their lives as well as to share with them how I've changed and what the Lord has been doing in my life. It's amazing to remember where we were and to see to where He has brought us! Wow!

So, all in all, that was definitely the highlight of my cross-country road trip. I'm overwhelmed by the Lord's goodness and unfathomable grace poured out on me over and over again. Thank you doesn't even begin to express the depth of gratitude in my heart, but they are the only words I can muster. So...

Thank you, Jesus!