Just yesterday before noon, we were experiencing some of the best weather that Columbia, MO has ever seen. It was in the 80s, a touch warmer than it has been in the entire state since summer began. And that occasion is extremely strange in itself, if you know anything about Missouri in the summertime. From mid-April through September, the temperature could be classified as Hot, Hotter, and Less Hot. Usually. Anyway, I was walking around campus, looking at all the freshman moving into the dorms with their parents, those concerned looks on all faces, and I thought, "This is where I need to be. No, this is where I want to be." Maybe I'm scared of what comes after this, I'm not sure. But I do know that I've found a place, where I'm wanted and even needed. Perhaps we're all just being selfish, needing a place in the world, but really needing affirmation from others in some fashion. I'd like to think I don't live for the approval of others, but it's great when you know that somebody else's world is brighter because of you. I know you understand.
I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p
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