Preface: My
military lingo is absolutely atrocious…so if you are in the military please
have grace and mercy when I reference something incorrectly J
I recall meeting
her at a ROTC banquet
at the University of Arkansas. She apparently lived in Colorado. It turns out
that she actually lived 15 minutes from my house in Greeley, CO. You would think that with that
in common, we’d become great friends. We didn’t.
She actually became really good friends with my roommate and I really
only heard about all the fun stuff they did (I was a little tied down at the
time so I rarely joined). I remembered her being very cool, confident, and super awesome…I mean she was a ROTC chick. I had much respect for her, but I didn’t really know her. It
wasn’t until our college career at JBU was almost over, that we actually became
close friends. Little by little my junior year (her senior year) we hung out
and I realized this lady was awesome and I needed her in my life.
She’s one of those
friends where you just feel free to tell everything to. She is a strong
woman of God, full of wisdom and passion. God used her to speak into my life,
encourage me, laugh, and allow me to muck up and then give me a pep talk to get
back up.
I’m struggling to
pick a story or two to illustrate our friendship, because there are so many. Among the many
great memories I have with this joyful woman, my absolute favorite was our DTR
(defining the relationship)
conversation. DTR is a hilarious term at John Brown University that people used
to abbreviate whether people were going to date or not. To discourage false
perceptions of what I’m talking about, our DTR was more like a DTBFR
(defining the best friend relationship).
I went to visit her where she was stationed in Pensacola,
Florida the 
summer after I
graduated from College. We went into the beautiful blue-green water to cool off
after lying in the hot sun. We were discussing something heavy. She was telling me the detailed story of
a conversation she had had, and referenced something I had said, but said “my
best friend Megan said…� I
don’t know if I’ve ever told her this story, but when I heard those words come
out of her mouth, my insides did a back flip. I felt like a child
with butterflies in my
stomach! I thought to myself, “YES!! She values my friendship as much as I value hers!� I
acted all cool and nonchalant and let her finish, but I knew deep down that
this girl was one of my very best friends and the feeling was
mutual.
I trust her. I know that I can tell her anything. The thing I like the most, and appreciate
the most, is that our friendship has the commonality of Christ. She has spoken the Word of Truth into my life, and I have to her as well.
Not only is this woman my best friend, she is my sister in Christ. And I praise God that He chose us to live
this life at the same time,
to have hometowns 15 minutes away from each 
other, that we could confide
in and befriend each other, and that she has a spectacular
sense of humor
and great laugh!
I was able to be
at her Commissioning Ceremony into the Air Force. I’ve been able to visit her while she was training. I’ve been a phone
call away when things got
super hard and she needed to cry. I’ve been a phone call away when she did a fabulous job on one of her practice
flights and needed someone to hear.
But I’m sad to say that I won’t be able to be around
when she makes one of the most influential and profound transitions thus
far in her life.
————————————————————————–
My best friend, Cortney
Laufert, is getting her Wings
today. If you don’t know what that means, it’s ok; I wouldn’t have if she
didn’t tell me (well I could have made an educated guess). A winging ceremony
essentially means that she gets these shiny things that tell the whole world that she’s a legit
pilot for the United
States Air Force.
Cortney, my
love, I’ve said it many times
before, and I’m going to say it again:
I AM SO VERY PROUD OF
YOU.
You have worked
so hard to get to this place.
I have seen some of the sweat and tears that you’ve persistently and passionately poured out to get here. God has seen it all…and He’s UBER delighted, too!
I stand here, across
a gigantic ocean, in admiration of the woman that you are. You stand
tall as a woman of determination and honor. The convictions you stand on give confidence
to those around you to do the
same. But this isn’t just in the Air Force or as a Pilot…it’s
your LIFE that exudes
these things. And because you lead a life of integrity, servant hood, and excellence you are able to attain such mountainous
aspirations. Continue to
pursue your dreams… God has placed them so profoundly on your life for a reason! If you’re
asking what the reason is, it’s this:
TO
TAKE YOUR ASPIRATIONS AND MAKE THEM
TANGIBLE REALITIES!
Job
well done, best friend! I love you!!
Isaiah27-31
Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
or, whine, Israel, saying,
“God has lost track of me.
He doesn’t care what happens to me”?
Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
they walk and don’t lag behind.
