Out of Touch

This is how I am feeling right now. Out of touch. Not with reality, no. I think I'm actually more in touch with reality than I've ever been in my life, given how my understanding of Christ, of His sacrifice, and of my sin has grown and developed in the last few months.

I'm out of touch with my friends. And this in spite of facebook, which is supposed to help people to keep in touch with one another. Last week I learned that of my friends, two couples got married this past winter. That was only a surprise in that I had forgotten when they were getting married. I had known that they were engaged. But, I also learned this past week that a friend of mine got engaged... in NOVEMBER. I would have thought that I would be among the first people to learn about his engagement. I also learned just TODAY that one of my college roommates (we were good friends: I was her #2 bridesmaid... came back to the States from my study abroad trip in Mexico to be in the wedding) had another baby... at the end of January. I didn't even know she was pregnant!

I know that in life, no matter how hard one tries to keep up-to-date with everyone, somehow there will be relationships that wane. I know that this is not because the friends don't want to keep in touch, but because life happens, people change, and friends just drift away.

I can't help feeling that if I was at home instead of here, I would have known about all these things. Now, I don't want to be at home instead of here. By no means. I just don't like the feeling that with me and these friends, absence hasn't made the heart grow fonder. Rather, out of sight has meant out of mind. It's just stinky.

My consolation is that, no matter how far I manage to drift from my Christian friends, we will have eternity together in the presence of the Lord. As much as I'd love to be with them now, and never lose track of the major events of their lives, I know that with them I will actually share the most significant event in our lives: blessed worship in the face of our God. I don't know all that much about what will go on in Heaven besides eternal worship of the Lamb, but I hope that we'll get a chance to catch up with one another and never have to worry about drifting away from one another again. That's not stinky, that's good.