I was terribly shy as a child (hard to believe I know!) so going to school and being around a whole bunch of new people for the first time was a daunting prospect. My mother’s encouragement to me was to “make friends” (which to my ears sounded like a good idea, I could design them how I wanted and they would like me because I would “make” them to do so) and sent me off into each new school experience with the same advice, “make friends.” I realized that what she meant in her statements was not to create your own friends just the way you want them to be but to build relationships with other people who are uniquely created by God. People with their own quirks, eccentricities, and desires for what the relationship would look like.

As I reflect on this month I am thinking about Making Friends. What does that look like? How do we do that well? Can’t I just build my own, you know, without the flaws and brokenness that people so often carry? Is there an easier way to do this than through opening ourselves to relationship and sharing our life with another? Unfortunately, I know that we can’t just create our own and if there is an easier way to build relationship with other people than through sharing life with them I haven’t discovered it!

I went to Yearly Meeting this month and had a good time. I got the chance to reconnect with pastors whom I had connected with at Pastor’s Conference/Retreat a few months ago. I also had the chance to “make friends” with a lot of new people! I always get a little nervous going to a group or place for the first time. I want to be accepted and to be a good fit for the group and have easy relationships there. Thankfully this was one of those times and I got to meet a lot of wonderful people from around the Yearly Meeting and listen to their stories.

As we try to live out our Christian faith we find ourselves running into a lot of people. People who are hungry for relationship with other humans and with God, we have the chance to “Make Friends.” This is often a slow process and one that is painful, broken people have sharp edges after all. But even though it is slow, hard, and painful it results in something beautiful: new friends. The effort of relationship is worth it because of the shared love we have and how much it adds to our lives. So, this month I encourage you to go out and make friends; to find new spaces and new people to engage in relationship with. Try something new. Talk to someone you wouldn’t normally. Find yourself blessed by the opening of a new friendship.

Seriously though, this is too hot. If the temperature is hotter than my radio station it isn’t good. This month has been hot in a couple ways, first, our temperatures here in the valley and second, in other issues going on in our culture and nation. People are feeling the heat. People are sweating. They are expending more energy just to survive than they have in other seasons.

The best way to deal with the added strain on our body, church or physical, is to increase our intake of water. As Christians we have access to an every flowing well. This is a source of good, pure, life-giving water that makes us able to persevere when temperatures get hot and tempers flare. We are able to make it through the desert because God is providing water for us along the way. We are able to make it through the cultural change going on around us because God’s consistent, life-giving water doesn’t change or evaporate no matter how hot it gets. Let’s take some time this month to drink deep from the ever flowing well, time to rest in the shadow of His wings, and time to work up a good sweat for His Kingdom purpose here in Medford. It might be too hot, but God is too good to give us more than we can handle with Him.

Another month has come and gone! How are these days so long and these months so short? Time just doesn’t make sense to me… Anyway, this month I had a visit from my brother Jared and his family! I have been looking forward to hanging out with them and doing some exploring. We were going to try and make it over to Crater Lake and then go around and see the different towns and stuff around Medford. Unfortunately when Jared and his crew arrived they were tired, sick, and ready to rest. My expectations for our time together were not fully met. We spent some great time together at my home and they got a chance to recuperate from their journey. We just spent time together in the living room, relaxing on the couches and watching movies for the first day they were here. It was so nice.

We had planned to do a lot of things and go see some different places but what we ended up doing was just resting together. That was better than anything I could have planned. Sometimes that is the best thing we can do together. Be a place of rest for each other during our long journey. It wasn’t really easy having a bunch of sick people in my house or having little packing peanuts end up scattered around my house! But to have a full home with a full heart is worth the mess of being with other people. Sometimes it is frustrating to have to deal with their junk in addition to our own but it is absolutely worth it. To have their smiles, to have their laughter, to be able to joke and catch up with them; the chance to just take a break, together, from all the wild adventures that we go on is something that shouldn’t be passed over.

This same kind of resting together is what I love about the church. We come together to rest and relax after a long week and find space to laugh and learn about how each one has been over the course of the intervening time. We have this space that is safe and is home for us. In coming together to rest (even with the mess each one brings) we find ourselves more connected as a family, as the Body of Christ here in Medford. Our journey together needs little breaks and time, to simply be with one another and remember each other before the Lord. What a blessing to be part of this family of God!