“Don’t avoid me, Bran”
Crap..she knows me too well.
Apparently when you live and work with someone for 10 months straight, they tend to get to know you.
Can I just mention that besides my parents when I was little, that’s the most time I’ve spent with anyone ever?
Anyways, back to the point. She saw that I was avoiding the conflict that was so obviously present.
I have this terrible history of just moving on with life when even just a little bit of conflict comes up with a person. Even if it’s nothing major, it’s as simple as you spend too much time together and those little things tend to start to drive you nuts.
She looked me straight on and called me out with the “don’t avoid me, Bran”
Apparently this is what it looks like to be seen by another person.
They notice when you’re growing in things that you used to be afraid of.
They notice when you don’t feel comfortable in a situation.
They notice when you love them by acts of service because that’s the way you love people.
They notice when you so obviously avoid them because you suck at conflict resolution.
To be fully seen by a person can be really scary because they see all of your ugly parts and then choose whether or not they’ll love you regardless of that.
To have a friendship like that though I’ve come to realize is rare.
To have a friendship where they know all of these little details about you yet they still choose to fight for it is a representation of the way Christ sees us.
He sees us, He knows us, He knows our hearts yet He still chooses to fight for us.
He’s the one who leaves the 99 to find the one.
As I stared across the table through the tears that threatened to fall I was reminded that this is a friendship that I want to fight for.
This is a friend that just like Christ, will leave the 99 to come find the one.
For month 11 we had the freedom to ask the Lord what He desires for us to do. This left 4 others and myself to surrender what our days look liked to whatever the Lord desires. We feel called to Jaco currently to the community here and plan to stay here until the Lord tells us to start walking to Panama.
We plan to walk as a form of fasting for salvation. Our plan is to shed our baggage and walk wherever the Lord leads.
Prayers for safety and strong finishes would be greatly appreciated as we finish up the end of the race and start on the rest of our lives.
Bless y’all!
