(originally posted january 19, 2009)

“I’m starting to get a true group of friends for the first time in five years and I love it.”

That’s written under in my About Me section here on Facebook. This weekend reinforced that thought to me more than anything before.

I could talk about all of the things that went on over the past two days but there’s one time and thing that sticks out to me. It was around 11:45 this morning. I’m standing in church at Brentwood singing the songs and I looked around and the thought hit me. Being in church with your friends is one of the best things you can experience in life. Some people will read this and think that’s just normal, and if that’s the case, I’m somewhat sorry. If you don’t realize what a blessing it is then I feel sorry for you. Growing up, I never had friends in my church. They all went to other churches. Today was the first time where my group of friends decided to go to church together.

So while I’m standing there, I just took a step back. I kept singing, but I started looking around and taking the moment in. I had four friends in front of me. I had three friends next to me. I knew the people behind me. One of my friends was helping with production and another was an usher. This church that I had started going to in July, by myself most weeks, had turned into a place that was filled with my friends and the people I cared about. I couldn’t help but say a little Thank You right there in the middle of the service.

The rest of the weekend was great. It will probably rank in my top five weekends of all time. I got to experience a great basketball game, driving to three different places to try to eat dinner, playing games with my friends, cooking a meal with everyone, and just hanging out and enjoying doing nothing with people I care about. To some people, that doesn’t sound like much. To those of us that were there, it was great. But as great as all of that stuff is, nothing compares to that feeling I had in church.

If you’re reading this and you’ve got a group of friends like this, make sure to thank God for putting those people in your life. Unless you’ve spent times by yourself longing for those types of relationship, you can’t really appreciate how special they are.

If you’re reading this and you don’t have those relationships, keep your head up. You’ll find them. I promise. I didn’t think I ever would and in my darkest time, when I needed people like that the most, I started to find them.

If you’re reading this and you’re one of the people that helped make this weekend truly special, I just wanna say thanks. You guys are amazing and I wouldn’t trade you for anything. I love you guys with all I’ve got and you know I don’t throw around that word lightly. If I say it, I mean it.

With all that being said, tomorrow starts a new week. Try and make it your best ever. The best way to start it off is to say your prayers and take your vitamins.

Have a nice day.

-Jonathan