The most impressive thing i could think of as the first entry

I sat for awhile trying to think of the most impressive thing that I could write here for the first entry. I asked Emma what she thought, and she said, “Chip, your gift is writing about God showing up in everyday life. Just write about that.”  

I married well. Very, very well.

God showing up in everyday life—that is EXACTLY what I love to write about. So, here’s what happened today. . .

I was sitting with someone very early this morning talking about a tough situation in his life. I was encouraging this person to “speak the truth in love” to another friend of his. I mentioned a time when I had to do the same and a verse that brought me comfort: “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses,” (Proverbs 27:6).

Later this morning at a coffee shop, I opened up to that verse and saw the one before it: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love,” (Prov. 27:5).

These verses are a great reminder to me of the temptation in our lives to want to be liked more than we want to love. Notice, I am not saying want to be loved, but want to love. To truly love a friend means that I must be willing to have them leave the “Do you like me?” box unchecked sometimes. Wounding well is a tough task, but it is like surgery: the point of it is to remove something that can cause greater and longer-lasting pain.

A friend who is unwilling to occasionally wound another can be an accomplice that allows his/her friend to get to the place, like David, where—overwhelmed with guilt—he exclaims, “My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly,” (Psalm 38:5).

On my good days, I’d rather wound a friend via spiritual surgery that will heal than to knowingly say nothing and allow a friend’s wounds to fester in folly.

Today was a good day to be reminded of this.