Best Friends and Bible Study

I've known my best friend, Sarah Elizabeth Waldo, for my entire life. Of course, of

those 21.5 years, we've spent comparatively few hours together. In fact, we only lived in the same state for about a third of it. But somehow through the marvel of modern technology and Divine Providence, we never really lost touch.

I could go on forever about how much I love Sarah, how much fun we have together, what a great friend she is. Really, you should meet her sometime. She's worth the cost of a plane ticket. But that's not the point of this post. Well, it kinda is.

She came to visit during this week last year, and it was this day (Saturday) that she was on a plane home. You can read all about it here, but I did want to share something with you from that post to help you understand us:

The thing that I treasure most about Sarah is that I can tell her when I need space. We are nearly opposite in everything which makes us an odd pair to be so close. We've both said that if we hadn't grown up together, we would not be friends with each other. I'm way too type A, organized, and driven and she is way too relationally driven and extroverted. After a week together, we tend to get a little rough around the edges.

Perhaps that is why I always feel surprised at the profound sense of loss I feel as we arrive at the airport, check in, and one of us goes into security while the other watches - knowing that the amount of time between our next reunion is never set in stone. As I walked away from the gate this evening, I was moved nearly to tears as I reflected on our friendship. Sarah and I don't always see eye to eye. She drives me crazy sometimes. But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I love her more dearly than I could ever think possible. I treasure her so deeply that I know that our friendship could never really end. I don't know why God put us together, but He did and for that I am grateful. Sitting beside her, I almost lose track of where she ends and I begin. There are very few people who have an unlimited license to hug me but she is one of them.

Saying all of this, it dawns on me that it is almost like a romance or like being in love. While I can assure all of you that it is entirely platonic (we are both too boy crazy for our own good), she is one of the few people in the entire world that I am not sure that I could love a boy more than. I trust her with everything. Literally. I wish that I could be there when things are going badly, but I am relegated to being the friend on the phone. I wish we could celebrate the little victories, but I can only send my congratulations via technology. Still, I know that we have something special. We've been friends for twenty years - a bond not easily shaken. There may come a day where the chaotic push and pull of life forces us to fall out of touch but I have a strong conviction deep within me that even in that circumstance we won't stop loving each other, we won't stop thinking of each other, and we'll make it work. Because we always have. We are pros at the long-distance thing.

Sarah and I recently started studying the book of Ephesians. Even though we've been

friends for 21 years, this is the first time that we've ever really done Bible study together. And its incredible. It has been so cool to talk to her about what's going on in my head and my life. But it's been even better to hear what Jesus is teaching her, and even getting to know more about her life and childhood. I've learned so much about her just by getting in the Word with her.

And its really cool, I think, because despite how often she remarks, "oh, that's why I sent you to Bible college" after I say something, her take on the text has been really enlightening to me. In fact, she and this book have been kicking my butt lately. God has majorly used her in my growth this summer. She motivates me to get in the Word and study and be able to bring something to the table when we discuss it. She motivates me to live out what the text says. She teaches me about grace every time we talk. She's much better at grace than I am.

And Ephesians? Man, Paul wrote some good stuff in that letter. Because of this Bible study, Sarah and I have been reading it a lot, and I (being the crazy type-a that I am) took very organized and categorical notes. As I was looking over them today, once again I felt the weight of what Paul was saying hit me.

In chapter 4, it talks about how we should live. I made a list of everything the text calls us to be, straight from the NIV. As Christians, we (I) should:

Live a life worthy of the calling
Be completely humble and gentle
Be patient
Bear with one another in love
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit by peace
Speak the truth in love
Live no longer as Gentiles
Not grieve the Holy Spirit
Be kind and compassionate
Forgive
Share with those in need
Not steal, but work
Put off falsehood
Not sin in anger
Not let the sun go down in anger
Not have bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, or malice

I look at that list and feel failure. My attitudes so rarely line up with that list, especially this first five or six or -- all of them. It's so easy to read over them in the Bible, but looking at that list, I see how far I am from the woman God wants me to be. And while I truly desire to live in accordance with all of those things, I know it is impossible.
Except that

We were (I was) once darkened in our understanding, separated from the life of God due to ignorance and hard hearts, given over to sensuality and impure desiring more impurity, corrupted by deceitful desires. But then, Christ came.

And now we are (I am) given grace as Christ apportioned it. What joy is in that statement! To know that there could never be more sin in me than mercy in Christ! Trust me, I have a lot of sin in me, but Christ has given me grace for all of it, so that I can be prepared for works of service, build up as the body of Christ. I am being taught to put off the old and put on the new, I am being made new in the attitudes of my mind. Why? Because I was created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And someday I will be unified in faith and knowledge of the Son of God, mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Whoa. That is deep, deep stuff. That is the beautiful mystery of who God created me to be! I don't fully understand it, but I know that it is more me than any of this fleshly business tries to be. I know that it is not some boring and lifeless lifestyle that will be confining, but that it will be true freedom and joy and oh so much laughter. I yearn for it more and more. And I am so grateful to my best friend

for reminding me of it. I am so grateful to her for doing this with me, for exploring more and more of who Jesus is and who we are, and for deepening our friendship. I may not get to see her very often, but she has had more of an impact on my summer than most people that I see regularly (except family - including Jessica and the Worstells, of course).

So you should do things. 1. Read Ephesians. It will rock your world. 2. Read Ephesians with your best friend. Or any book of the Bible. It's so worth it.