in this installment, james meets up with a friend he hasn't seen in almost ten years.

I hadn't seen Jeff in about nine years. He intern at my high school church in Washington when he was 25 (two years younger than I am now!) and I hadn't seen him since. We emailed about once every quarter decade or so, but that's about it.

Then, thanks to the miracle of Facebook, we reunited digitally and I learned he was ALSO teaching English in Korea. So after a month of laziness and working out schedules, I finally braved the bus and train system the four hours south to Gwangju where he works.

He met me outside the bus station and two things were immediately clear. He was now 34 but hadn't aged a day, and we immediately picked up where we left off nine years before.

I love that.

Back immediately were the rapid fire theological discussions and ridicuolous anecdotes. You think I talk fast? You should see me with Jeff.

For all that the internet drives apart, there is a counter reaction in modern culture. If not for Facebook we probably would have never seen eachother again. It's very bizarre to think about, that in another decade a large portion of my friends would have simply disapeared by this point. I remember people my parents were friends with when I was younger and realize our family hasn't heard from them in years. And I wonder how my parents lives and friendships would be different if they'd had the technology we have today. And I wonder what my kids will have in the future.