What was that again?

I had something so good to write in here today. Sadly, I waited until tonight and I have completely forgot what it was. I'm sure it was completely life changing. Oh well, we may never know.

Tonight was our little kinship (small group) night. I love them. I am fully convinced that all of the neighbors of the house we meet in think we are a cult. We are very free in letting the Holy Spirit move and quite often it comes with rather loud results. In the summer all the windows are open so all can hear. Add to that our loud singing during worship and you got yourself one interesting night for the outsiders to watch.

Especially tonight as we all gathered outside to take some pictures. It is for a gift to be brought to the far north of Canada, only we didn't have half the stuff to take a picture with. But because of the wonders of modern technology and having a very professional photographer in our group, he snapped away and will be able to edit in the missing parts. Like a giant map that we all pretended to hold. Instead of a map we had a cross-country ski in our hands and we were lifting it way up above our heads, triumphantly!

Hmmm.... not usual.

I am finding myself really missing Redding these days. It is probably because it is getting warm again and that always reminds me of my time in California. What is happening in Redding is really unbelievable, yet it is real, so you are forced to believe it. My friends there are the best I have ever had and I honestly never knew friendship like I have gained in Redding ever could have existed on planet earth. But it does... and I miss my friends.

I think I took for granted being able to just hop in the car and drive to whoever's house I wanted to see whenever I wanted and just hang out. I know in the last couple of months that I had in Redding I really took the time to savor each and every moment, but that made it way harder in the long run when I had to leave. I found that when you really take each moment for as much as it can possibly be worth you get some incredible relationships out of that which become the new definition to intimacy.

But as the Lord would have it, I have found myself way up here in Canada now. I used to think people were exaggerating or being poetic when they would say that not a day would go by when they wouldn't think about someone or something. Now I know what they mean. Not a day goes by that I don't think of Redding or my friends I made during my time there.

You know what? I kind of like that. That feeling of missing them never goes away (at least it hasn't yet), but that's okay, I suppose. It reminds me of what is possible with the people I meet here in Canada. And I have found that here. Of course, they all live hours away from me, or in Europe, but I did find it again.

It's weird because nobody can replace another person and as you keep finding more and more friendship's, knowing the possibility for the intensity of such a relationship is there with each one of them you find that your heart grows bigger and bigger every time. I find that interesting.

In our school we did a bunch of training on this sozo inner healing stuff. Part of what we were taught was this thing called the "father ladder". To explain it very quickly, most of the time we relate to our heavenly father the same way we related to our earthly father. If our earthly father was cold and distant, that is generally how one honestly related to Pappa God - until healing and revelation is brought into the mix. The way we relate to the Holy Spirit links up with how we related with our mom. And finally the way we relate to Jesus is linked with how we relate to our friendships.

As lovely as friendships are, they still aren't going to get me into heaven. Only being in relationship with Jesus will do that. I feel that there is such an amazing double blessing involved with friends and Jesus. My friends in Redding opened my eyes to a Jesus I never knew. As I go deeper with new friends, I keep seeing more of Jesus that I never knew existed and I love it. And then as I see more and more of Jesus, I find that I'm able to see deeper and experience more of my friendships.

I kind of like that.

Truth is such a wonderful thing. Not just a knowledge of truth, but a revelation of the truth because that is when it becomes a part of who you really are. I want to feast on truth and let it change every part of me.