What is Friendship?
What does friendship look like for you?
Are you living life with friendships that are healthy and life giving?
Do you have friends that encourage you and push you more towards the Lord?
Before coming on the World Race, I am not going to lie to you I was super nervous living home. I was afraid to leave the people I loved at home. I was afraid that the World Race would be completely different and I wouldn’t have people to love like I do at home. With that being said I prayed before leaving for the Race that the Lord would provide me a sense of “home” while I am on the Race. Let me just say this the Lord has blown me away in His overwhelming ability to love me through those He has put into my life while on the Race. Friendships that will last forever!
I want to take a little bit of your time and introduce you to some of the people who have truly become home for me.
Erika and I are very different human beings for sure. With that being said in the beginning we had a difficult time fully understanding each other. Little did either of us know that God had bigger plans for both of us! God knew what He was doing putting us together. During the first few months of the race Erika and I got to know each other, learn from each other, live with each other, and just become friends! Now fully knowing Erika as I do today, I wouldn’t want to live this life without her! She is one of the most loyal, nicest, genuine, and loving people I have ever met! She can be excited about something and run into a room and the entire atmosphere changes. One of my favorite memories I have with Erika was the day the two of us sat down to watch a movie called “The Shack” (if you have never seen it I recommend that you do). Erika had never seen the movie before. I read the book in Panama and watched the movie for the first time in Spain. Anyways, Erika and I at this point in our friendship would have gone out of our way to do just about anything for each other. Then the movie started….. By the end of the movie both Erika and I sat silently together on the couch weeping. Up until this point I had never seen Erika cry. Something changed in that moment that we got to share together. It was a moment of true rawness, a moment truly humbled by the Lord, a moment of just being with each other, and a moment shared together that has forever changed the course of our friendship. Erika and I now understand each other, love each other, see each other right where we are, and honestly, I would trust that girl with my life! Erika thank you for loving me the way you do, for challenging me, for seeking me out, and just being you!
This girl right here knows exactly how to push every one of my buttons humanly possible! She is from Road Island, but she is currently calling Virginia her home. Needless to say, listening to her talk brings me so much joy, but at the same time my little southern accent can get the best of her from time to time. Our friendship is one that is a lot like a friendly boxing match. Our friendship reminds me of two brothers who grew up together practicing wrestling moves with each other! We both throw sarcasm right into each other’s faces and it is great. Rachael has such an amazing since of humor. She is also one who is up to go and do just about anything. She is really good at keeping me on my toes and ready for anything that could be next! I want to quickly tell you about one of my favorite moments with Rachael. Rachael and I went out on a date one day for breakfast at her favorite little coffee shop. While there we had great conversations, great food, great coffee, and some amazing fun. What I mean by fun is this…… In the middle of breakfast Rachael pulls out two containers of playdough. Yes, yes, yes we are grown adults in a coffee shop talking about the Lord and playing with playdough! It was a glorious morning of friendship, food, and fellowship. I can honestly say that a huge part of everything fun I have done while on the race has been a gift to me given from Rachael. Rachael thank you for showing me what it looks like to live in pure, raw, and authentic joy with those around me and the Lord!
Let me just start by saying this. If you do not have a Michelle Dudley in your life you need to get one! Michelle is one of the funniest humans I know. A room can be completely dead and she can bring life back to everyone in that room! She is someone that’s full of sarcasm, jokes, and pure joy. She is more than just her humor as well. She is one of the most artistic, creative, and beauty seeking people I know. She is so talented in so many ways. Several memories come to mind when I think of Michelle, but my favorite memory with Michelle was the night she came up to me, grabbed me by the hands and told me that she loved me and that she would do anything for me. Knowing Michelle well enough I know that she doesn’t take I love you lightly. So needless to say, when she told me she loved me I cried A LOT!!! The words ‘I love you’ are very powerful words that she never takes lightly and neither do I. Michelle has such a pure heart of joy for those she cares about. I can say I have so many memories with this girl and one doesn’t do her justice. So, you will just have to meet her in person one day. Thank you, Michelle, for always loving me, for making me laugh, for pushing me to the best I can be, and truly living life with this southern girl you call your friend!
Ana Banana…… One of the sweetest, softest, kindest, and tender souls I know! Ana and I go all the way back to night one of parent launch when we shared a bed together and freaked out about not being able to finish all our thank you cards. Needless to say, that was the start of one amazing and goofy friendship. Ana is one of those people that you could be walking down the street with having a great conversation and then all the sudden you realize you are talking to yourself. What I mean by this is that everywhere we go Ana is always the first person to seek someone out and see people right where they are. She is not afraid of someone telling her “no” or to “go away”. Ana is intentional with every person she walks up to. Ana simply wants people to know that THEY ARE LOVED, because God first loved us. I have too many memories with Ana to only pick one, so I will just have to tell you the rest some other time, for now I will just tell you about one of the memories I have the blessing of sharing with Ana. We are both at training camp, in the pouring rain, and each morning we had to pack up our stuff and then reset camp each afternoon. On this particular day half the squads bags got stolen. Guess who I ended up sharing my tent with… Ana! She comes in with a children’s size sleeping pad that is half the length of mine. As we both got into my tent for the night, I look over at Ana to notice that 80% of her legs are not even able to fit on the sleeping pad. We laughed so hard that we cried. Thank you, Ana, for always seeking me out, showing me such a tender love, watching Chuck with me, being by my side from day one, and just putting up with me this long on the Race!
Honestly, I do not even know were to start with this girl! Shelby and I tried to meet up like three different times before the race ever started and each time plans fell through. I can’t tell you how excited I was to know someone else on the race knew of the little town I call home. Honestly, I am glad we never got to meet up before the race, because I don’t think our friendship would be what it is today if we had! Shelby is one of my dearest and closest friends. She is a quiet soul, but when given the opportunity speaks with so much wisdom and boldness. She loves to learn and I love learning from her. One thing I adore about Shelby is how much she loves her family back in the states. Not only does she love her family in the states, but she brings that same love on the race. Shelby is great at creating a family atmosphere with the people she gets to live with. I have more memories with Shelby than I do with several people back in the states so picking only one to tell you about is not easy for me. I could tell you about the time we shared a tent for a month, one of our many coffee dates, the time we got massages together, the time we bucket showered with wasps at training camp, the day I dropped her, the time I built up her cross, all our competitive moments, and the list goes on and on. One memory I have with Shelby that I always love to think back on was this one time in Costa Rica up at the shed (one of Shelby’s favorite places on the race). It was one of the only sunny afternoons we had up on the mountain so we all went outside to be in the sun and watch the sunset. I don’t know how the idea came up, but Shelby wanted to see if she had a high enough vertical to jump over me while I was standing up. Needless to say after several tries and several close calls….. she made the jump! That was the moment I knew that above all else I could fully trust Shelby with anything. If something bad had happened my neck I would have been down for the count, but to see the excitement, joy, and fun that came out of that moment made it all worth it! Shelby thank you for loving me the way you do. Thank you for challenging me, pushing me, loving me, watching chuck with me, laughing with me, praying with me, putting up with me this long, and so much more!
If you didn’t read my last blog you should go read it to learn more about Katy. Anyways for those who didn’t read about Katy I will tell you a little about her. Katy is one of those people that can be friends with just about anyone. She is a simple soul that lives everyday to the fullest. She is someone who is always smiling and always has a reason to laugh about something. She can be with just about anyone and make the most of her time with them. She is always talking with the Lord and always seeking to love those around her well! Katy is someone I would have never expected God to put into my life, but I am so glad that he did. One of my favorite memories I was able to share with Katy took place back in Nicaragua. One day we went to the beach and it was during our squad’s week of prayer. Throughout the week different people would sign up for different hour slots to pray so that prayer was continuous. Katy and I signed up for an hour slot of prayer while at the beach. So, with that being said, Katy and I walked out into the ocean spent time with the Lord and just simply prayed together. It is a moment in time that I will never forget. Thank you, Katy, for being so passionate in all that you do. Thank you for seeing me for who I am, loving me, putting up with me for so long, laughing with me, praying with me, and simply allowing me to be your friend.
Caleb Fox:
This guy right here is a friend of mine from home. He is not currently on the World Race, but he is one of my nearest and dearest friends! Caleb and I met my freshman year of college and have been friends ever since. He is a 100% goofball. The way he lives to love the Lord always blows me away! Caleb is a very down to earth southern man, he loves to be in the great outdoors, he loves to sing southern gospel music, and loves to be active playing sports. When Caleb and I were in school together we played on intermural sports teams together. Caleb never played to much volleyball before college until I started teaching him how to play. Now he is better at volleyball than I could ever be. One of my favorite memories with Caleb was our freshman year. Caleb came walking into my dorm room at Christmas time. Then out of nowhere Mariah Carey’s song ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ starts playing. Caleb begins singing, dancing, and having a grand time all around our little dorm room. We laughed for hours over his singing and dancing! Thank you, Caleb, for being such an amazing friend to me. Thank you for always making me laugh, praying with me, going on adventures with me, singing with me, dancing with me, and just simple putting up with me for so many years!
Valerie Wilkinson:
Valerie is also a friend of mine that is not currently on the World Race. She is a very near and dear friend to me! I could honestly write a book on this girl, but I will not do that to any of y’all. Val and I have been friends since middle school. Needless to say, we have been through so much together. Valerie is one of the absolute smartest people I know. She is loving, kind, athletic, wise, joyful, has a passion to always seek more from the Lord, and so many other things. I don’t know how I would honestly live life without her in it! I have so many different memories that I have shared over the many years of being friends with Val. I have no idea how I can only tell you about one memory, but I will try. One year for my birthday my family was headed to Tennessee on vacation and I had asked Val to join us. Unfortunately, she said she couldn’t come, because she had a camping trip planned with her family. I am not going to lie I was really sad she couldn’t join us for vacation. About two days into our trip our family stopped to pick up tickets to go to Dollywood for the rest of our trip. As we are waiting in line out of nowhere Val pulls up in her moms’ car and gets out to join us for the rest of our vacation. I was in total shock and completely overwhelmed with tears of joy! Thank you, Val, for never ceasing to surprise me. Thank you for loving me day in and day out over the years. Thank you for putting up with me for so long no matter how far apart in the world we are. Thank you for praying for me, laughing with me, crying with me, growing up with me, and truly being my best friend!
For each and every person I had the blessing of writing about in this blog I just want to say thank you. I want each of you to know that you mean the world to me and that I love each of you more than you could possibly ever know! Forever and Always!
Lord, thank you for blessing me with these friendships. Thank you for placing people into my life that I am able to truly call home. Thank you for allowing home to not only be a building with four walls and a roof, but also allowing home to be the people in my life. Lord I just want to ask you to continue growing my friendships with the people I come into contact with daily. Continue growing my friendships with the friends I have already made on this race and throughout my life. I pray that they see more of you and less of me every day. Lord I pray that I can be a friend like you had the chance to be to your disciples when you walked on this earth. I pray I can be a friend to them like Johnathan was to David in 1 Samuel. I pray that each and every friendship I carry throughout this lifetime is fully honoring and pleasing to you. Thank you for all the friendships you have blessed me with. Thank you for using my friends in big ways to grow me closer to you. Lord for those who do not have friendships in their life like the ones I am blessed with, I pray that they know that you are their ultimate friend that will never leave them or forsake them. I give you all the praise honor and glory forever! Amen!
So, let me ask what does friendship look like for you?
Are you living life with friendships that are healthy and life giving?
Do you have friends that encourage you and push you more towards the Lord?
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
-John 15:13
