Greater Love

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends."

This verse from John 15:13 talks about the sacrifices we make for our friends to portray the love of Christ.  I know two people who just recently sacrificed their lives for me.  Or at least they sacrificed their sleep...but hey, sleep when you're dead right? 

Ok so here's the story:
 last Friday marked the end of a very long week and by the time I got off work at 5pm I was exhausted!  However, my work was not done because as soon as I got back to the house I had to help the rest of the community team prepare for a dance party we were planning for Saturday.  I literally had been going non-stop from 7 am to 7:30 pm and really just needed some time to myself.  So I declined the request of my friend, Kelsey, to go out on the beach to see the Dew Tour that was in town (a professional skateboarding competition) and decided to go sit outside and talk to my dear friend, Pete who I hadn't spoken with in a couple weeks.  After a long and enjoyable conversation with him he says, "Ok Brooke, I have to go run errands.  I'll talk to you later!" 

After I hung up with him I met up with Kelsey on the boardwalk and she asked me, "Hey you wanna wake up early tomorrow to see the sunrise?"  I told her I would love to do it sometime before we left for the summer, but I was just really tired that weekend and would rather sleep in.  She would not take no for an answer, and so I finally gave in...somehow agreeing to the leave the house the next morning at the literal buttcrack of dawn...5:30 am.

However, when my alarm went off that morning I did not get up.  It wasn't until Kelsey was calling me a few minutes later to hurry me that I threw some random clothes on, grabbed my beach towel and rushed out the door to meet her...groggy as can be.  While we were sluffing through the sand, I looked up at the humid and cloudy sky and asked, "Kelsey, are we even gonna be able to see anything? It's so cloudy out here!"  I was really just not in the mood for an early morning at that point at all.  But as we got closer to the shoreline, these two figures came into focus...



Patriotic Family Photo
(note: our matching outfits were not planned)



SURPRISE!!! IT'S WAS ALLISON AND PETE!  

Two of my best friends from Pittsburgh, drove through the night all the way to Ocean City to see me.  I literally had NO IDEA they were coming, and yes, Kelsey was in on it too. 

Allison and I with conspirator, Kelsey

So when Pete abruptly had to end my phone conversation with him the night before, it wasn't because he had to run errands, it was because he was on his way to see me!  They didn't sleep a wink that whole night and came to Ocean City ready and rearing to go- excited for an eventful day together.  And because I was up at 6 am, we had the whole morning to spend together coexisting and just loving life and each other.  I'm so grateful they were able to meet some of my new friends and see a little tidbit of what my life has been like for the past 8 weeks.  They ended up staying the night and were then able to go to church with me the next morning and we enjoyed another beautiful day together. 

 How lucky am I to have such awesome friends!  Seriously, the Lord has defnitely blessed me with such caring people who love me unconditionally and continue to point me to Him.  It's just so easy to have fun with these two, and I'm SO THANKFUL that I've been able to experience and understand more of God's great love through both of them. 

"No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us."  -1 John 4:12