Intimate yet anonymous...

This past weekend Erik and I had the privilege of going to Queenstown. It has appropriately been named the adventure sports capitol of the world. While we were there we met an incredible group of people, which were kind enough to let us sleep on their floor, eat their food, and go out into town with them. It is funny how fast one can form such an intimate, yet completely anonymous relationship with another. During our time in Queenstown we shared about our pasts, dreamed about our futures, and discussed some of our struggles with complete strangers. It is exciting for me to be here, in New Zealand, forming countless intimate and anonymous relationships with people. Very few times in my life do I envision myself knocking on a random door asking if I could sleep on their floor, but people here, who are my age, do the very same thing regularly. I think a person needs to have these revealing, yet anonymous relationships in their life. Maybe this is the reason people are so drawn to the pub/coffee shop culture. By engaging with people in these settings we are revealing things about ourselves to someone, who previously had no idea about our pasts, personalities, values or beliefs. These relationships have the potential to shed valuable light as to who we really are. Our labels, accomplishments, failures, or previous actions are removed from the equation completely. When we engage with random people our behavior isn't viewed through any established lens, it is taken for face value, be it good or bad. I guess what I mean is this: when we engage in intimate and anonymous relationships we are given the opportunity to love for no agenda, and we are able to see if what we value in our own faiths is acted upon. I hope that all of my new friends Michelle, Wilson, Mike, Lindsay, Rosie, Hollis, and J.P. felt loved. I hope that our brief yet intimate interactions are valued, both by myself and them. Thanks for opening the door on Friday afternoon to what hopefully will be a multitude of very valuable friendships.