You

This is for you.

As you may have come to realize, all I ever seem to write about is me, myself, & ... what going on with in my soul & heart. Its all about me. Or so it seems. This one is not about me.

Its about you.

Its about how you - and you know who you are - who refresh me with your presence.

I had lunch the other day with a friend who was coming through town to travel for a few days. She mentioned that she was refreshed after hanging out with me ... thats the joy of two dreadfully wretched failures hanging out ... we know how to reveal in the grace of Christ! But as she said that, it hit me. REFRESH. That is the word I have been looking for to describe how I am and how I feel after hanging out with certain people in my life. This friend who I had lunch with, well ... she is a refreshing person with a refreshing spirit about her (Christ in her)! So thanks, if you read this. You know who you are. You are refreshing! CPK was a good choice.

Another friend came through town just a day ago and as always, he leaves me feeling challenged, in need of greater wisdom for life, and super-encouraged! Not too mention how much we laugh and goof off when we hang out. He is like a brother, or IS a brother. I am not sure how to explain it past that. He oozes enthusiasm for Christ and for fulfilling what Christ has called him to ... and he does this wisely, unlike most his age. You are refreshing! Bumper Cars.

Still others, speak truth, ask hard questions, & are honest - and I mean like transparent, take-a-risk honest.

Concerning the risk taker ... I had a conversation with a friend who shared some - I guess - not easy things to share in a matter of days of us knowing each other. We shared lengthy conversation, different life events, life trials, and life learning experiences. Not everyone knows how to share well, but those who do, their honesty will refresh and give life to you. So thanks for sharing with me, things that are not easy to share so shortly into a friendship. It forges that friendship quickly. You are refreshing!

And ultimately, it must be said, that we can refresh each other because Christ has refreshed us, making us new creatures, washing away and casting out the old, and replacing our broken parts with His wholeness! I think this refreshment is something that Christians are especially able to dish out. Why? Well, I presume its because if we have come face-to-face with Christ, in his majesty and holiness, then we have come to see our sin for what it is. A spit in the face of Almighty God. We are then aware of what Christ has done. Lived, died, raised back to life making a relationship with the Father, through faith in His final defeat of sin, possible. Knowing who we are on our own, it makes us (should make us) prone to sharing our depravity more freely ... then enabling us to brag on God and His goodness to take a complete mess as someone like me, and day-by-day break me of myself to make me look more like Himself.

I believe- deeply - that Christ is the only reason you or I or any of us have any refreshing quality to offer to others.