Brothers

I can't believe I've never blogged about this before, but I just want to say I have an overwhelming amount of gratitude for my brothers in Christ. God has been so good to me bringing such good friends into my life these past four years at Northwestern. And all I can say is thank you. Thank you brothers. Thank you for respecting us women, and for being yourselves, and for pursuing the Lord. It helps us remember that there really are guys who believe we are valuable because they know how much Jesus loves us.

Three boys I'm particularly thankful for are dating some pretty amazing ladies. And it brings me smiles to see their relationships progress so healthily, holy, and wholesome. A lovely portrait for every single girl to know what she deserves. So thank you Adam Dominick. thank you David Young. thank you Clay Burrows. I wasn't aware of what a gift it was to know you, but now looking back I see that all of you were exactly the gift God intended to place in my life.

I'm thankful for my real brother. As I get to know him more and more, I realize how amazing God has made him. He is so wise, thoughtful, kind, gracious and I am so thankful for my relationship with him. He's probably the only guy, other than my dad, who can understand me completely, because he KNOWS all my faults. Tonight I said, "William, you know my pride is about as big as this house right?" And he said, "Yes. I know."

That's a brother for ya. Loves you for who you are.
He also gave me this quote:
"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." C.S. Lewis

I love C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, George MacDonald. It makes me smile that someday, I will be their sister in heaven. How cool is that??? I'm gonna to hang out with J.R.R. Tolkien!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even handle that thought. Seriously, the writer who wrote Eowyn??? And the whole story? And all those characters? And the eutragedy during the beginning of post-modernism? Not possible! But it IS.
--eutragedy is a tragedy in which the story turns hopeful at the very last possible moment. So he simultaneously managed to portray the brokenness and depravity of the human condition, that is so evident in the writings of Hemingway and such, and yet he managed to show how hope remains. He is pretty high on the list of men that I would consider marrying if he were my age. Just sayin. But alas in heaven we will all be brothers and sisters. There will be no marriage! And so I rejoice to know my amazing brothers in Christ. All of you.

A sad story.  A friend of mine recently posted this on facebook:
"I hate every man in the world right now. Except my dad. And my brother. And my roommates. And the gay ones. And Obama."  It makes me terribly sad that she would say this, because I can only imagine the harmful behavior that would have led her to say something like this publicly.  It hurts me that she only knows guys who act that way, and that fact indicates that she might only believe she is worth that type of guy. Not true. Not true. I wish for every girl like her to know, that there are great guys in existence. They might seem like they don't exist, but they do. Or they might get there someday. It's just important to know that bad behavior is never condonable. Women have no responsibility to say yes to dating a guy to boost his ego. We spoke with the 9th graders about the myth that if a guy asks you to homecoming, it is rude to say no. "Oh he has get up the courage to ask me out, so poor guy." I'm not gonna say a cuss word, but I probably would say one if I did that. My point is, NO. You have no obligation to make a guy feel good about himself. If he needs you to affirm his worth, he's got some issues. And you're best to walk in the opposite direction. Cause you ain't gonna make him really know his value, unless he finds his value in God.  So when I see posts like that, or hear friends talk about the mistreatment in their lives, all I think is why? if anyone can offer a good answer you can write my blog for me. This is the question I've been seeking to answer and will continue to look for an answer to as I hopefully continue in the field of women's empowerment. I guess if I had to take a gander, the answer would be, we don't know our value, unless we know Christ.

So to my brothers in Christ who are so good to the friends and the significant others. I thank you. And women all over the world should thank you because you have the strength and the character to help us really understand our full value before Christ.  So in case ya didn't know how great ya are, give yourself a pat on the back, and keep it up. Some girls notice, they really do.