Relationships Matter

I'll be on a plane to Israel by the end of the week.

It's shocking, I know.

My plan is to travel the world. My plan is to spend my Julys in India, Thailand, Mexico, The Congo, and Pakistan.

Israel: the Sequel was never part of my plan.

I've only ever felt a pull to return to one place that i've ever spent a July. It wasn't Israel.

This wasn't in my grand design.

It just kind of happened.

It happened on a Sunday in December. It happened through a series of emails between Summer, Dr. Corbitt, and myself.

It happened. And I'm going back to Israel.

For the past six months i've been reflecting on what happened, how it happened, and why it happened.

I have only one answer – Relationships.

I'm going back to Israel because of relationships.

BuildaBridge is going to Israel because of relationships.

I take a sense of joy in that. I take a sense of joy in knowing that my summer of 2013 mattered to more than just me. I take a sense of joy in knowing that BuildaBridge has enough trust in me to come along.

I take a sense of joy in feeling that my life is about what I want my life to be about.

Relationships.

I want my life to be about people. About loving them. About serving them.

Relationships matter to me.

Relationships define my life. I can look at my life and point to specific people and know that their relationships with me have formed me into who I am. Their influences on me have made me love more deeply, live more graciously, order my life more purely, see more clearly, and give more generously.

I have been influenced by a handful of people and it has shaped me in a way that will echo until the end of my days.

I want to reverb that echo into every person that I have the privilege of knowing.

I feel a deep sense of connection to people, whether I want to feel it or not. It's a connection that can never be broken. Ever.

That bond might bend or twist or stretch, but it will never break.

It's a connection that comes with a responsibility that I take seriously. Regardless of how I feel about you, I am connected to you. Regardless of how you feel about me, I value your relationship.

It doesn't look the same in every situation, but it does guide every interaction.

Sometimes it looks like being a good listener. Sometimes it looks like a card in the mail. Sometimes it looks like meeting a need without being asked. Sometimes it looks like saying, “I'm sorry.” Sometimes it looks like a text, although very rarely a phone call. Sometimes it looks like not harboring bitterness in my heart. Sometimes it looks like speaking up. Sometimes it looks like being silent. Sometimes it looks like healthy confrontation. Sometimes it looks like active peacemaking. It always looks like making jokes at inappropriate times. Sometimes it looks like looking for the lonely person and sitting next to them. Sometimes it looks disagreeing respectfully. Sometimes it looks like eye contact in a crowded room. Sometimes it looks like saying, “Thank you.”

Most of the time it looks like being fully present.

My hope is that, if you know me, you know that I will put you first, that I will serve you, and that I will love you.

My hope is that my life will be judged by how well I loved the people in it, by how I lived those three principles, by my relationships.

Going back to Israel gives me a sense that it all matters. That it's not in my head. That it's not in vain.

That relationships matter.

I'll pour myself out for that.

I'll let my life be judged by that.

Day after day, week after week, July after July.