(This is the first of several short blogs that I’m planning to post on a few people who’ve impacted me over the past year)
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (from Walden)
I’ve spent more time this year with one person than anyone else I ever have. This person and I spent nine and a half months without ever being apart for more than a half day. I wasn’t sure about this person at first, but he’s become a good friend and someone I fully trust and love. This person has taught me to dream again;
And I want to say thank you Nate (center in photo below – sums us up pretty well).
Nate and I have very different backgrounds and stories. Really, other than growing up in the north (he’s from Michigan) and enjoying sports, we didn’t have much in common when we first ended up on the same team at training camp. I wasn’t sure what to think of him at first, with his unique personality, crazy sense of dress, and ideas that challenge a lot of what I grew up with. That being said, God had a plan for us that I never saw coming.
Besides the fact that Nate and I spent 277 straight days together (I’m seriously not joking) and didn’t kill each other, he’s helped me to dream again. I wasn’t sure at first why God put us on the same team again during team changes in Nepal, but I found out in Rwanda that there was a reason. The conversations and experiences we’ve shared have been key in truly unlocking my dreams and desires for my future.
Before being on Nate’s team, I always said I’d “follow my dreams” and that I’d do so regardless of what others think, but I began to realize in Rwanda that I actually never fully understood what that meant till that moment. Because of Nate, I started putting together a dream journal (kinda like a bucket list, but I’m not waiting till retirement for these) and really thinking about what I wanted out of life. I began to fully separate myself from others’ opinions of me and my life choices and began to look only to where God was leading me and what I wanted. This new understanding has brought so much freedom and joy to my life, and I’m so thankful that God has given me such a unique, amazing friend.
Thank you Nate “Taters” Wasnich
God Bless!
-Ben
