From outside the box

Last night I spent an hour or so on the phone with my nephew Mark. Mark and I are about the same age and have been close our whole life. He moved to Las Vegas several years ago with his family so we don't see much of each other anymore. Mark and I have always had a lot of things in common. As teenagers we learned to play the guitar together. We started out playing surf music and later progressed to The Beatles. Thru out the seventies we played on several bands together. Mark was always a better musician and song writer than I was, so I credit much of what I know about music from the years we played together.

I started a family and settled down much earlier in life than Mark did. During the seventies and eighties Mark was a bit of a lost soul, a wondering spirit. He moved all around California, up to Washington, back to California, out to Nashville, back to California, moved to Oregon, back to California, (lived in every part of California at one time or another) and eventually settled in Las Vegas where he is happily married and raising a family. Mark found himself when he found the Lord back in the early nineties.

Besides music, Mark and I have always shared a deep philosophical nature. We watched each other stumble and fall many times in our life long quests for love, knowledge, and trying to figure out where we belonged in the scheme of things. My best times with Mark was not the music but the humor. You never knew when he was going to turn into Walter Brennan and start whining about how tough life is for an old man (you older folks should know what I'm talking about here).

Since Mark became born again we have drifted apart somewhat. It probably has as much to do with family and other life choices as it does with philosophical differences about life. We still share a lot in common though. It's always kind of funny when we talk on the phone because sooner or later we end up getting into deep conversations about God and life and religion and all that stuff that few people agree on. We argue, we disagree, we listen to each other, we often find common ground, but most importantly, we respect each other.

I guess our biggest difference now is that Mark has found something that gives him peace and comfort while I still question and search for answers. I think that we both have and will continue to find wisdom on our chosen paths. We have more in common than we have differences. We both are committed to family, we both want to be successful in life, we both still love playing and writing music, and most importantly we share the same core values. We both want to leave the world a better place than we found it, we both lend a helping hand to others in need now and then, and we both a share a deep need to experience and understand the true meaning of why we are in this world. I think Mark found his meaning. The path I walk does not give one the luxury or the comfort of knowing that the lord is going to take care of everything. But I have peace and love in my life. I don't mind not knowing where I'm going or what I have to do to get there. To me it's all about the journey, the search for meaning, the spiritual rush I get when I uncover another small tidbit of truth. I tell you one thing though, life is so much better when you have friends like Mark to share it with.