Ladies and ... Ladies, may I have your attention.

You ladies rock. REally, you all do. Truly, you all do. You ladies rock.

What inspired me to say such things? Friday night was a monumental night for me. (this is gonna get long)

Coming into college, I had for a long time yearned for a fellowship composed of brothers and sisters in Christ. All through high school, the youth group wasn't quite there yet. Individually, we were all strong, deep-rooted Christians, and we knew it. We looked forward to church not for the people, but for spiritual training. But as I hit junior year, I realized that we (the guys) don't know enough about the girls, that we aren't really friends. Good acqaintences at best, but not friends. But since we were all geographically dispersed, the only way to become better friends was either on Sunday or Friday. The social ice the divided the guys and girls was thick, and it was almost too much for one person, or even a group of guys to break down. And since the Youth Director structured the youth program for training the youth (which is nothing wrong) ... the only interaction we had was in a spiritual setting, and not social. Guys hang out with guys, girls hang with girls, and it's hard to intermingle.

Especially girls that are grouped up. Man, for one guy to approach a cluster of girls... that's intimidating.

Anyways, we all graduate, "super-christians" so to speak, yet not really knowing who each other is. College arrives, I begin attending CBS, and everyone gets along. We may not know everyone else's names (there's 150 of us), all of us, guys and girls, are social, conversational, open to each other. I wanted CBS to provide something HCC never could. To me, CBS is going to be my fellowship of brothers, and sisters in Christ. Cross-gender relationships were going to be forged, they were going to be healthy, they were going to be right.

Up until Friday, everything was working out as expected. I got to know a lot of the other ladies of CBS, all of them great people. I was friends with them, we hang out with each other, and as far as I can tell, I have no desire to date anyone one of them. There is no ulterior motive to my spending time with them, I don't see my behavior suddenly change when one of them shows up. To me, that is healthy. However, I was unsure if the rest of CBS interacted with the same mindset. Were they possibly behaving in such a way to set up possible future dates with each other? Were they leading each other on? It all changed Friday.

A wonderful speaker addressed this very topic: relationships. A short summary: if you are single, appreciate this, for it is a gift from God. You can do so many things when you are single, there's more freedom. Granted, there are struggles to singleness, since your parents would keep asking you why you're not dating, or you're really really lonely, or even if the hormones are getting the best of you.

And how do we deal with these struggles? THe speaker said to do a couple things. 1) Develop that relationship with God. It's worth it. It's a discipline that is hard to maintain, but such a worthwhile one. He will always be there, He will your friend, your guide. 2) Develop your character. We all have our flaws, we all know it, so go work on it. Your future significant other doesn't want to date a bum. 3) Don't be on the hunt, it just makes it harder for you. 4) Develop healthy relationships with the other gender. May these crossgender relationships be healthy, where you're not checking every single girl/guy out for possible future spouses.

WHat usually is a hush-hush thing, the speaker boldly addressed. If CBS takes it to heart, I feel CBS has reached a higher level. Everyone would be on the same page, and things would be healthy, and hopefully God would be pleased.

ANd what topped the night off was at the end. A 4-minute video clip of someone writing a letter. Elegant piano music in the background, everyone's eyes was tranfixed on the letter as it was being written by candlelight. And basically, this is what is said.

"It says in the Bible to love on another. To engage in brotherly love. Whatever is good, our mind is to dwell on such things. To the ladies of CBS, please accept this token as an expression of our brother love for you.

THe men of CBS"

And with that, every single girl was given a flower. with 4-5 guys passing out flowers to each of the rows, everysingle girl got a freaking pretty flower.

That was probably the single-most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Seriously, that will probably rank up there in most memorable moments of life. I was elated, fulll of that warm-fuzzy feeling.

AWesome.

Oh, and midnight rodeo was afterward. That rocked too. WE go in at 11, it is cold and rainy. at midngiht-1, the announcer says it's snowing. Snow. In Texas. On valentine's day. Crazy awesome.

God is good. All the time.
posted by Justin at 4:27 AM