Stephen is one of the people God has placed in my life as a partner in the Kingdom, a friend that loves the same music as me, and a role model in how to be disciplined.
One thing many people know about Stephen is he's a marathon runner. I can barely run a mile or two, let alone sticking it out for +30 miles as he does sometimes. He wakes up incredibly early to go out and run (I woke up at 1 pm a couple Mondays ago), mastering his body into a machine that can go for hours. I don't get it. I mean, I do but I don't. I get why, but I don't get how. Oh well.
I've known Stephen since we were in 6th grade or so at Jenks East Middle School. He claims that I scared him (I went through a rough skater/womanizer/KoRnlistening stage) back then. Over the past 8 months or so, I've seen our relationship become something completely different. Kind of like in my relationship with Brett, the Lord has changed the content of all of our conversation and has focused it on the Kingdom. We'll sit for hours at Subway, Starbucks, his house, in a car on the way to Kansas City to see Waterdeep, etc. and converse in such an intense, God-heavy way that it's physically tangible. We've discovered things about the Lord together and experienced movements of the Spirit together that can never be duplicated or out-done. He's been there for me every time I've had something hit the fan, been confused, needed to ramble for a few hours, had to cry and just feel the brokenness for a while, the list goes on.
This Fall we'll be living in Norman, OK and going to school at OU again together. Last semester was mind-blowing, seeing God take us to the homeless and addicted on California St. in OKC and meet some people we will not soon forget. We've hung cabinets in an overthrown Crack/Prostitution/Gang/Porn house and prayed with some of the dirtiest warriors of the faith that I've ever met. I've seen Stephen's selflessness and discipline to be single minded and consecrated to the Lord, and it has inspired me in ways I could never even begin to describe on this silly blog.
Lord, bless Stephen. Overwhelm him with your authority and goodness. Let him know just how near you are to him. I know he sits with you for hours every day, just to be with you. He doesn't seek his own will during those times, but Yours. Your perfect, pleasing, and good will. He knows you. May he know you more. I pray now in the name of Jesus that you would rid his life of distractions and leave only the things that you want for him. May everything that is not of you just flee his life, leaving him in perfect intimacy with You. I know that persecution must come, and seeing how faithful Stephen wants to be to you makes me sure that he will experience high levels of it, but he and I both welcome that in the fullest. I'm so excited to see what you will do in Stephen's life. I love you, Lord. Thank you for blessing my life with such an exceptional follower of you to spur me on and keep me hungry for more of you.
2 comments:
So when Kristi and I come to Oklahoma we're definitely meeting all of these incredible friends of yours, okay? :)
You don't know how incredibly blessed you are to have a friend like that that you can sit with and have those intense conversations. I'm happy that you do though and only hope I can find someone like that when I start school in the fall. You're an amazing person Blake and I pray that God would bless you and your friend in ways you never thought possible!
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