day 3 - love

I heard from an old friend tonight. It was one of those things that just happened to work out. My dinner plans got mixed up and I ended up coming home, looking for something to eat, and wondering how I was going to spend this un-expectedly free evening. Katie and Allison were watching something on TV that I had no interest in, so I had just begun to wonder if I was actually going to see my bed before midnight for the first time in who knows how long, when my phone rang.

Jared is one of those friends that I rarely see – I think sometime last spring was the last time I laid eyes on him. We emailed briefly after Katrina – more of an “ok, you’re still alive – let me know if you need anything” running catch up, and then a voicemail around Christmas, then nothing until tonight. I think we’re averaging talking/emailing/speaking – some form of communication – twice a year or so.

He’s definitely one of my favorite people, and attained that status almost from the moment we met. He is a rare person, indeed. He is completely devoid of judgment. He’s completely real, completely authentic, kind, giving, honest and absolutely the most emotionally-balanced person I have the privilege to know. My filters never even think about coming on around him – I am more completely me around him than anyone else in my life. I can talk to him about anything, effortlessly. He’s the first person I’ve been able to talk to about moving in weeks – which was a blessing.

He is exactly who the western Church is trying to be… and to my knowledge does not even attend church on a regular basis. He reaches into the lives around him and lives out Christ in their lives in a way that most Christians wish they could, at least on a consistent basis. And I can just about guarantee that the Lord hardly ever comes up – at least in conversation.

He reminds me of Grissom, the main character from CSI. Grissom is a self-proclaimed agnostic (do not read here that I am saying Jared is agnostic) who is told by one of the family members of a victim that he is doing God’s work, whether he knows or admits it. Jared is a lot like that in the sense that he is not overtly “Christian” or “religious” or “spiritual”. He just lives his life in such a way that imitates Christ in many ways without doing so intentionally or overtly.

At the risk of sounding like I’m putting Jared on a pedestal, he really is an amazing person. He has character, integrity, stability, genuine kindness and gentleness, intelligence that will make your head spin, and a humility that is just part of who he is. He is in no way contrived, and that is so refreshing. He has a genuine interest in people and one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen. He also works harder than anyone I know. When I say work, I mean he works for days on end, with little to no sleep – constantly striving toward his goal – which, by the way, is a doctorate from LSU.

So, I’ve probably sung his praises ad nauseam. But, surely you’ve figured out by now that this is going somewhere… The Scripture for today is 1 Corinthians 13:

1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Jared’s life epitomizes love. Not the giddy, topsy-turvy romantic “love” as some understand love to be. Jared’s life is the epitome of Christ’s love. I said earlier in this post that he is exactly who the western Church is trying to be. He does not imitate love – he just loves. I don’t know any other way to say it.