I accidentally posted a ‘post’ that wasn’t a post, but a tentative post idea (and title.) I note those down quickly at time just so that I don’t forget them. Sometimes I write them, sometimes I don’t. In any case, this time I was using my wordpress app and didn’t shift the settings to ‘draft’ instead of ‘publish’, so a bunch of you got a fake post. Sorry about that. My bad.

While I’m here though, I figured I’d simply write the post anyways. It’s really just a fragment of an idea:

I was thinking about my friend Sean, this morning. He’s one of my best friends, like a brother to me really. We’ve been theology and church nerd friends for years now, geeking out over Kevin Vanhoozer and G.K. Beale books, arguing over ecclesiological issues over pints, and just generally trying to encourage each other in the faith. Among all my friend-brothers in Christ, he’s kind of been unique in that way in my life the last few years.

A few months ago I had the privilege of being in his wedding and then watching him head off to Chicago with his new bride. I was excited for him and sad at the same time because I knew that while we’d always be friends and brothers, he wasn’t just a 10 minute drive away anymore. He’s also been out of internet for a while so that was tough too. It’s been hard to find guys to just sit around and talk theology with like I would with Sean.

Now, thankfully, he’s got his internet back and we’ve been able to resume some contact. Looking forward to more of that. That said, I’ve realized that in the meantime, this whole year of writing and social media has been a surprise blessing in this area. It struck me this morning as I twitter-met (yes, I guess that’s a thing) another smart theology dude, that God’s been really providing a lot of weird, but wonderful online community in this way.

For a couple of years I’ve had a few, random theology nerd buddies online I’ve sparred, encouraged, and prayed with so I knew this was possible. But then I joined Christ and Pop Culture team, met an entire community there that has challenged, encouraged me, and with whom I actually feel quite close (except for Randy–he’s the worst.) Then weirdly enough I started meeting some really interesting, godly people on Twitter. People with whom I’ve been able to follow up, ask questions, joke with, pray for, and again, be really encouraged by.

None of this is really a jaw-dropping revelation. It reads like an Onion article headline: ‘Man discovers it’s possible to make friends online.’ Sure, this isn’t the local church community and it’s not a replacement for those friends with whom you live life, week to week, side by side, at work, or Bible study, or whatever. That said, it’s still remarkable to reflect on the way that God can use any medium, even those with a 140-character per note cap, to connect, grow, knit together, and encourage his people.

Soli Deo Gloria