Tam Hodge. Jenni Clayville.

If you never get the privilege of spending even 5 minutes with these 2 women in real life… you will have lived an unfulfilled life.

I can’t believe there was a time in history when the internet and technology were not a part of our lives. Some people say that the internet and all of this social media mumbo-jumbo is creating fake intimacy. Fake relationships.

But I say to you now… just look.

Without blogs, twitter, facebook, etc. I would not even be in Portland this weekend. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to speak at an up and coming church plant and minister into the lives of people. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience worship with Jenni, Tam, Brent and Kass. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet Brian and experience his crazy awesome organic cooking. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to hold, cuddle and nibble on 2 of the cutest kids ever. I wouldn’t have met Lauren Allen, Tyler & Rose Braun, Mandy Conforth, Melanie Sainz, or Rick & his wife. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity for Kota to fart on me (okay, so I could have done without that last one).

Because of this crazy world (that is getting smaller and smaller each day through technology), I have a whole other family. Real relationships and real friendships, that even 5-10 years ago… would have been impossible to create.

My life has actually been changed and impacted for the better because of the people I have met through the internet (via lifegroup online, twitter, my blog community, my book site, etc). I think about all of the people I met this weekend and as well as people like Diane and David who are seriously the most generous and prayerful people I know, Christy who is darn near my personal therapist at times and Lynse Stevens who is one of my biggest encouragers.

And there’s so many more people that I can’t even begin to name everyone. I can’t imagine my life without them in it or what it would have been like to never have met them.

This is Church. This is life.

I know it is unconventional. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.