For the past week I’ve spent time with my Kenyan brother in Colorado for his wedding. I’ve had the amazing privilege of meeting and experiencing the group of people he lives in community with. It has been quite an experience.

Unfortunately my beloved wife was not able to join me due to a baby due to arrive in just weeks, but it turned out to be kind of a blessing, giving me extra time to spend with my brother and his friends.

The amazing thing about this group of people Nick does life with is the level of openness, transparency, and love which they share with one another. And the way they love God openly.

Believe me, they are not perfect people. But that is why they love their Savior so much, and apparently why they love one another so much. These guys are able to - by some unique grace that eludes most of us so often - be very real with one another, warts and all. And in the midst of their transparency they accept one another in love. Something which, sad to say, the Church at large (at least in my experience) is incredibly handicapped.

Being around Nick’s friends has stirred up a desire in my heart for similar godly community in my own life, which I would have to say is sorely lacking. Not that I don’t have any godly community, but that I desire so much more for community in which I can be real, transparent, and accepted for who I am: sinner saved by grace.

To my new friends in Colorado, it had been a joy getting to meet you this week. And thank you for letting Christ in you awaken a desire in me to live life deeper than surface level.