Dinosaur socks and Mennonites rock


So, I have this friend.
His name is Mark.

We are two pret-ty different humans at surface level.

He loves academics and is easily one of the top five most brilliant people I know.
I'm intelligent, but academia isn't always my gig.

He is an introvert.
I'm an extrovert.

He's a cat person.
I'm a dog person.

He loves running.
I do not.


But beyond these surface-level differences, we share a common interest...

...a love for large reptiles. Dragons and dinosaurs, to be exact.


And even beyond that extremely important similarity, we also share a love for Jesus Christ and feel called to help others understand God's love for them in theological and practical ways.

I've always been drawn to Mark. It's weird. Because, well, I don't always know what to do with the quiet ones.

And the first time I encountered him--on my first day of seminary in Introduction to Ethics--I picked up on that quietness right away. I also quickly realized he had no qualms about making faces at people based on things they did or said. I think that second component may have been what intrigued me about him: Why is he making those faces, and is he being mean or funny by making them? It didn't take long for me to learn that that was just Mark, and there was nothing malicious about it.

As semesters went by and we had more classes together, we got to know one another somewhat better--sometimes by sitting close (never really beside) one another in class and/or sending each other sarcastic messages and stickers in facebook messages while trying to stay awake in those dreaded 2:00 PM classes. But I think it was when we both attended the required cross cultural trip to Cuernavaca, Mexico for our degree that we became what I consider to be real friends.

Late night card games, discussions about relationships, playing question games on dark van rides down a mountain after a full day of learning about and experiencing the culture, celebrating his birthday, playing charades, sitting *next to* each other at meals, witnessing him seemingly travel to another world when he sat down at a piano bench to play one of the last days of our trip...These are the events that built our friendship. No longer was Mark just this man that I looked up to for his brilliance and life experiences and gifts/passions for ministry, but he was someone I loved as my friend. 

We remained close throughout the rest of his seminary career. I "WOOHOO!"'d when he walked across the stage last May, likely much to his chagrin, and though we don't get to see each other very often now, we still keep up in those snarky facebook messages and check in on each other from time to time.

He informed me after service that he wore 
these socks today just for me! :) 
Note to self: Invest in dragon socks for our next get-together.

Today, I got to witness my Marky stand before his congregation at Columbus Mennonite Church (It was my first time attending a Mennonite church, and it was so great on so many levels. I highly recommend visiting this congregation!) and deliver a beautiful sermon full of many of the things I have learned about him throughout the process that has been our friendship. From pulling in his audience with a combination of his charm, humor, and captivating storytelling abilities to making sure the text for the morning was well presented on many levels. He made us laugh (He made me cry.), he helped us learn, and maybe most importantly, he helped us connect the text with our everyday lived experiences and vice versa. In doing so, he helped us understand the ways that God continues to speak and act in our lives even when we don't always recognize or understand it.

As I mentioned earlier, I have always been drawn to Mark. But today, as I sat in the pew and intently listened to him give his sermon, I was not only drawn to Mark, the guy I met on my first day of seminary, but I was drawn to Mark, the effective pastor and preacher, who I am so incredibly proud of and who I am blessed to call my friend.