Friends, New & Old

Friends are a great thing, a gift from God.  In a recent blog I wrote about the many new friends I’ve gained through a 5-year continuing education experience at St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City. Through these many new friends I’ve experienced God’s grace, God’s undeserved or unmerited love.  I am grateful and hope that people like Jerry and Keith will remain friends, my friends and with others, for a lifetime.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time with a life-long friend, a friend from the neighborhood we grew up in together in St. Louis.  Lifelong friends are an amazing gift in our lives.  While Danny, his twin  sons and me spent the day mostly at Hammons Field, the Springfield Cardinals ballpark here, we covered a lot of old and new ground (bad pun, sorry).  We reminisced about old memories and made new ones. 

Life is about old memories and creating new ones, isn’t it?  And God is right in the middle of them as we open our lives to God.  I encourage you and me to keep the doors open and then watch the experiences, the memories that unfold before our very eyes.

Long Overdue Update?

It’s been 14 months since I’ve update this blog. Why? I think its due to the amount of writing I’ve done outside the blog in this time frame. I am always researching, reading and writing. While sometimes tedious, I love it.

God has designed me to be intellectually curious regarding most things. The Methodist church (local and state) has continued to require, while supporting me, that I gain more knowledge of God through study, writing and speaking. I do this through a vehicle called the Course of Study (COS). The COS consists of 20 classes at the campus of St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City. Its been a great 14 months.

I only have two more courses to complete in the next year. While I look forward to completing the COS and being able to read more of what I want to read, writing about topics other than those required of me and talking about things other than those assigned to me, I’m beginning to realize what I will miss too. I will miss spending time with some great friends gained along the way. I’ll miss the process that is more intentional than I first realized.

I’m grateful.