“… the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”
Jonathan and David are a story of true “Bromance”. If you read the story in 1 Samuel another verse that I really like says this (1 Samuel 20:23) “… Behold, the Lord is between you and me forever.” then again later in the chapter verse 42 “Then Jonathan said to David, ‘Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord saying ‘the Lord shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever’ ‘…”
Going on the World Race was obviously a challenge for me. The hardest part was walking away from family. This time I’m not talking about blood, but my boys. I am talking about the men that truly challenged me over the past 6 months of my life. The ones that called me out when I screwed up, and lifted me up when I got it right. The ones that completely supported me when I chose to walk away from my career, and well… my life. Rev, Smiley, Perry, I miss you guys a lot. You mean the world to me, and I won’t ever be able to replace you.
I came into this trip knowing that I was leaving my best friends behind, and I didn’t plan on making new ones. I knew I wanted a new “little family” for the next 11 months but I was good on guys that I have shared my heart with. It’s a guy thing I guess. I think it’s in my blood to be closed up emotionally. I wanted to go through this year, make some friends and have a good time doing God’s work. Advancing the Kingdom. That’s what its about right?
Well, tonight we had a guys night. We prayed together, worshiped together, spoke into each others lives and hearts, and… well… did our draft for our fantasy football league. I am truly again surrounded by an incredible group of men. In our opening discussion we talked about training camp and things we had shared with each other… including a promise we made. We had vowed C.R.Y. to each other. It’s such a manly acronym I know. Celebrate God and each other. Rely on God and each other. Yes God and Yes to each other. I had to ask myself what part of this vow had I done and not done?
I knew I was being completely open to what God had for me, saying Yes to everything He had for me. I was totally IN when it came to saying Yes to God… or was I? See, I wasn’t completely buying in to Adam on my team. I wasn’t opening up to him, and treating him like the Man of the God that he is. I put a wall up because in my mind he wasn’t the same thing I had at home. I was constantly comparing him to my other friends whether I realized it or not. By doing this I wasn’t saying YES to him OR the plan that God had for me and our team.
This was luckily something I had noticed on Thursday. During worship God convicted me of not opening up to my team mate. Not allowing our relationship to grow, I wasn’t only hurting myself but the team. This being said, Adam and I have made some MAJOR progress and I can honestly say that I love him. I love the man that God is molding him into. I love how God uses him to challenge me, and I hope that God will do the same thing in me for him. We pray over each other, speak life into each other, and HAVE FUN TOGETHER. Our goal is to have the perfect BROMANCE by the time this thing is done. And it’ll happen.
I want to challenge anyone who might read this to seek a relationship with someone of the same gender in order to challenge you. To hold you accountable. Someone you can open your heart to. We need that. God intended for us to have that. Who’s your Jonathan or David?
