The Toast

My best friends in the world are all together this weekend for a wedding.  We laugh, we cry, we tell stories, we laugh, we cry, we do something stupid and the cycle continues until we have to sleep or settle down for the wedding.  It is amazing thing to be apart of.  At each wedding we have a tradition.  We give a toast the night before the wedding.  The toast is as important as the wedding.  Many guys make it for the toast but not the actual ceremony.  We sit up late and go around in a circle of how the groom is going to make a great husband, how he is a great man, how he has brought value into our lives.  It is a rare moment of complete transparency.  It is beautiful.  I am convinced the the community that is created in those moments is what God had in mind for Christian brotherhood.   I am left wondering why cant I live my live in this kind of community and transparency?  How can I foster this authenticity in my relationships and in those that I lead?  I do know this the community I experience is life giving and I know God is active in it.  I urge you to pursue community with reckless intentionality.