One of the sweetest times in life is when you can connect with a friend. When you speak with a friend something magical happens. Your soul could be affirmed, challenged, encouraged, comforted, and so much more. Often you leave the conversation feeling heard and as if you received a blessing. One indication for me that I am speaking with a friend is that during the unspoken moments they know what I am thinking. This friend can finish my sentences, predict my thoughts at times, and challenge me with difficult conversations. Sometimes these friendships take time, years, to establish, but there are the rare occasions where it just simply happens.  

When I became a believer in Jesus Christ I had a preconception about prayer. Prayer I had misunderstood as either a method of dealing with crises or a way to delay making a decision. Not that prayer does not impact situations to the point of allowing God to intervene and make a way we did not see even possible. We have seen this in our observations of the Red Sea encounter. Yes, prayer does help you get clarity to make a decision so the statement "let me pray about it" in and of itself is not wrong. But is that it? Is that really why God created prayer? 

As I sit here and watch my sons play their Saturday sports, I am reminded of how much detail the Lord orchestrates in His creation of us. We spend many hours practicing and planning for real game scenarios. We talk about positioning, mindfulness, and strategy. We practice, practice, practice. Then game day comes. I watch with anticipation to see how my sons will apply all that we practiced. Will they remember to analyze the situation and remember how to respond? Will they stay engaged throughout the game and remember to use all the resources they have been equipped with to respond? Will they need to be reminded of all the practice they have done and all the resources and skills they have been equipped with?

When I was training for a half marathon race my main concern was whether or not I would have enough water on my run. I trained with so many different water carrying devices. Some of these devices would be wrapped around my waist and offer different amounts of water. You would think it would be easy to just strap a belt around your waist, fill up the 3-4 containers and just start running! But no. 

The belt around the waist for me was constraining and heavy. Who wants to run 13 miles? Who wants to run 13 miles with baggage? 

Easter, or more accurately Resurrection Day, is my favorite celebration. This was not always the case, as I did not come to know Jesus until I was 18yrs old. However, my first Easter celebration after accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior was so impactful. In December of the year prior to my first Easter I accepted Christ into my life and began reading the bible on a consistent basis. I learned to make the scriptures come alive I had to not only read it, understand its context both literally and figuratively, I also had to insert myself. As I read the text, I would ask myself which character best reflected my heart, actions, and words? Who most resembled me? Then I would focus in on that particular character's narrative. I would focus on the happenings in context of this person.