Where to begin....

     I have often thought about starting a blog, but was never quite sure what I would say, how regularly I would keep it up, and quite frankly whether or not I would have the time for one.  Well, as I enter this I'm still not sure what to say, I doubt it will be kept up with any sort of regularity, and I most definitely do not have the time for one of these.  Oh well--at the end of the day (this day in particular) it was my buddy Birch that sort of gave me the final convincing necessary, and so in my mind it is fitting that this first entry be somewhat dedicated to him, and just a few of the things he has taught me over the years.
     There is a phrase a pastor of mine once used quite frequently when talking about people of important influence in his life, or in the lives of others.  He would say of those people that they "spoke life into him", and that it was important to find those people that "speak life into you".  It was a sort of loose reference to the creation process by which mankind was made, the Breath of God animating Adam.  In hearing that phrase in the past I always thought it sounded profound, but it had no real impact on me, nor could I really say that I truly understood its meaning.  For my part, I thought it would be nice to be such a person, but again, I did not really grasp at its meaning.
      Thanks to Birch, I am beginning to understand what it means to speak life into another person.  Over the course of my blogging experience, I believe there will begin to be a picture painted of some of the life experiences through which Birch has walked alongside me.  Some of them I believe are among the most painful experiences a human being can go through, some of them are among the most wonderful.  Many of them are mundane and probably already long forgotten in my own mind.  As I try to explain this image of speaking life, I will use an analogy the Lord has been working with me on over the last few days in particular, which is one of life as a series of mountains that we climb.  For years now on my journey through them I have had the Lord as my Guide, and Birch as my "sherpa" for lack of a better term.  He has carried my baggage for me when it has been too heavy for me, helped me to carry it when it needed to be done by me, all the while making sure that I stayed close to our Guide.  He has stopped along the way with me to admire the view, to remind me for Whom it is we are all climbing, and at this particular point, as I am looking back and beginning to grasp just what it is the Lord has really brought me through, there is not a better person on this earth with whom I would have rather shared the experience.
     The mountain we have just scaled has been the treacherous, painful one of my divorce.  As I stand in Christ, having conquered this mountain by His strength, Birch shares in that victory.  As I am beginning my ascent of the steep, scenic mountain that will be my time at seminary (I may revise those descriptive words based on how the climb goes!!), he is already on the trail with me, encouraging me before it even really begins, reminding me once more Who has prepared me, and for what.  I do not know what mountains this life yet holds for us, but words escape me to express the gratitude I have for me Lord that He has given me such a climbing buddy as this.  He speaks life into me, reminding me of the life abundant we share in Christ.  My challenge, to myself, and any who read this: What kind of climbing buddy are you?