I call myself a friend.

Wow...what a week.
I got back last night from a full week of free travel...
Here's what went down in a nutshell.

Forgotten passport.
Late to Madrid.
Robbed on the metro.
Prado was awesome.
Bullfight even better.
Molested on the metro.
The metro is evil.
Time for Barcelona.
I love Gaudi.
Kelsey's phone got stolen.
We hate Spain.
On to Southern France.
Avignon is the perfect little town.
Thought we got on a train to Nice, but ended up back in Avignon.
Time on the beach in Nice.
Had to find our hotel in Genova scavenger hunt style.
Finally home safe and sound.

It was an awesome trip, and definitely full of experiences. We never had a dull moment, that's for sure! I look back on that trip, and I think that I finally had my "AHA" moment. Robbie is always talking about that one moment...that place and time where we finally get it...the thing that we are here to learn, and I think that Kelsey taught it to me while we were in France together.

I am a terrible friend.
Point blank.
On our trip, I talked to Kels a lot...mainly because she was the only person around me that I could speak to in English for an entire week. While we were traveling, though, we got into a lot of really awesome conversations about life and religion and philosophy. It wasn't until then that I realized how utterly selfish I am. I call myself a friend to many, but when have I ever cared about there opinion on such issues? I've walked through years of friendships with people without so much as asking more than their middle name and their favorite color. I've been selfish enough to think that they will have the same views on life as I do. Maybe I think that we are too much alike for them to have such vastly different opinions. Maybe I think that my views are so obviously correct that no one could think otherwise. Maybe I think that because they grew up in the church then we must have the same opinions. Maybe I just don't care enough to ask. Whatever the case may be in each situation...I am ashamed. I want to know people better than that. I want to ask them the questions that matter. I want to truly know the people that I call my friends. I want to have that intimate relationship with my closest peers. I want to question, and to learn, and to debate. I want to discover truth. I want to find love. I want to love people. I want to love my friends. I want to love my God.

So here's the question of the day...
How do you know that your faith is true?
It seems like the most simple question, but it can also be the most difficult.
How do you know that your parents were right?
How do you know that the biblical writers got it all correct?
What if you had been raised as a Muslim?
Would that change your faith?

So I know that was more than one question...but these are the questions that haunt me. These are the questions I want to ask. I want to know you. If anyone has an answer they would like to share, I would love to hear your opinion. E-mail, facebook, blogger...I'm available anywhere.