Exceptional Exceptions

Myself, Julie and Jenn at our house dance

Here are two people that don't classify as dumb or walkers, in my life. This month marks the ten year anniversary of our friendship. Though we are currently parted by distance, it is tested and true that when we come together again, our hearts are bound just as ever. We are close, and when I say close, I mean that I am sure that they are both all for me and I am all for them.

We celebrated our first Memorial Day weekend by camping at the Jedediah Smith State Park, next to the emerald-green Smith River flowing over rock. I'll never forget the place. Subsequent Memorial Days were spent in the Mt. St. Helen foothills, in Lincoln City at the beach, and in the desert climate of Sisters, Oregon.

Just as vividly I recall studies into the Word. I remember their greek & hebrew aids and concordances which they constantly took advantage of. I remember free-will Julie and calvinist Jenn taking very seriously but respectfully, the issue of predestination. At the time I had almost no idea what they were talking about, but it was never boring. We would often go to Shari's for late night dessert & classwork... and take our bibles. I quickly learned that any time together meant conversation upon loftier things. Just as predictably as life brings controversy, so it went that these two would open up the scriptures to see what God's will would be, and we would pray going in and out of it. It was through having them as my roommates for a year or two of life that I became accustomed myself to love for Him and His words. I was undoubtedly immature, compared to them. But I delighted in their good example and they in my willingness to learn.

We are kindred. Each of us had a strained or absent relationship with our father, and a rocky one with our mom. We clung to each other in those days.

Our birthdays are in January and exactly nine days apart, with Jenn's in the middle.

These two ladies are singlehandedly the reason, as much as is humanly possible, why I became a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Julie and Jenn, this one is for you. The video is a little odd, but the song is a perfect fit...