Everyone meet Josh. Josh is one of my best friends and I believe that he is one of the most R A D I A N T people that I know because this “delight” won’t even let me interview him. His humility towards life is what makes Josh shine Christ so bright. After weeks of hackling him for a time to sit down and talk, he finally gave me a few moments. Yet, in those few moments with lots of awkward silences, a few hundred ‘I don’t want to do this’ and long stares into space I realized how radiant this person really is to me and so many others.
So this entry is a little different. I don’t have a list of questions that he answered. I don’t have any cool looking pictures that we took. I don’t have a meaning for radiant that he told me. Words aren’t Josh’s thing. They never have been. It’s because he lets his actions shine so bright leaving an impacting legacy. So, I give you today’s delight… The Story of Josh.
Josh Rich and I casually met one day in April of my freshman year in a parking lot with my best friend Taylor. Little did Josh and I know we were about to spend the entire summer together in Texas working at Carolina Creek.
This past summer was one for the books. Josh and I were brother and sister cabins with the youngest kids at camp. After the first week, Josh and I knew we were in over our head and laughed so many times because there was nothing else to do. We have fun memories of how his boys asked all my girls to the 80s prom and slammed our cabin door in their faces. On July 4th, I remember his campers running down the path yelling, carrying “ammo”, and hiding in the bushes as army men. I remember watching Josh love his campers and seeing his face light up as the boys laughed and played together.
At the end of the summer, Josh changed his flight home from Houston to Nashville to help me drive home. We woke up at the crack of dawn and spent fourteen hours together in the car all the way back to Tennessee. When I think back to that long day, I think sweet memories of us laughing so hard as we made countless U-turns in the middle of nowhere IN TEXAS, the epitome of ‘the middle of nowhere.’ Of course, we had no cell service and a road map without back roads labeled. I also remember turning on the radio for the first time all summer thinking that Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” was an old 80s song. Whoops.
Once back at school, I introduced all my close friends to him and his close friends. Our friends started cooking dinners together and spending countless nights hanging, doing homework, laughing, and accidentally breaking things over at his house. (Sorry about the chair. And the lamp. And the fire. Oh and the door frame.)
Some cool things about Josh is that he works with a program called “Big Brothers Big Sisters.” Every week he goes to a local elementary school and helps Matthew with his homework, plays basketball, and hangs out with him. Josh wants to teach history in his future so over Christmas break, he went to Jamaica to teach children about Jesus and other fundamentals. He loves missions and has been on other trips including Uganda, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Josh loves purple and people mistake him for Macklemore. He cooks some of the best dinners and bakes amazing banana bread. When I was sick a few weeks ago he so graciously brought me chicken noodle soup and Sprite and didn’t let me pay him back.
I tell you all these things because I want you to see his actions. Josh may not be vocally shouting that he’s radiant in Christ but the way that he treats people and lovingly serves friends and strangers is louder than any words. Be encouraged and challenged today. 1 John 3:18 states it simply, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
So this entry is a little different. I don’t have a list of questions that he answered. I don’t have any cool looking pictures that we took. I don’t have a meaning for radiant that he told me. Words aren’t Josh’s thing. They never have been. It’s because he lets his actions shine so bright leaving an impacting legacy. So, I give you today’s delight… The Story of Josh.
Josh Rich and I casually met one day in April of my freshman year in a parking lot with my best friend Taylor. Little did Josh and I know we were about to spend the entire summer together in Texas working at Carolina Creek.
This past summer was one for the books. Josh and I were brother and sister cabins with the youngest kids at camp. After the first week, Josh and I knew we were in over our head and laughed so many times because there was nothing else to do. We have fun memories of how his boys asked all my girls to the 80s prom and slammed our cabin door in their faces. On July 4th, I remember his campers running down the path yelling, carrying “ammo”, and hiding in the bushes as army men. I remember watching Josh love his campers and seeing his face light up as the boys laughed and played together.
At the end of the summer, Josh changed his flight home from Houston to Nashville to help me drive home. We woke up at the crack of dawn and spent fourteen hours together in the car all the way back to Tennessee. When I think back to that long day, I think sweet memories of us laughing so hard as we made countless U-turns in the middle of nowhere IN TEXAS, the epitome of ‘the middle of nowhere.’ Of course, we had no cell service and a road map without back roads labeled. I also remember turning on the radio for the first time all summer thinking that Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” was an old 80s song. Whoops.
Once back at school, I introduced all my close friends to him and his close friends. Our friends started cooking dinners together and spending countless nights hanging, doing homework, laughing, and accidentally breaking things over at his house. (Sorry about the chair. And the lamp. And the fire. Oh and the door frame.)
Some cool things about Josh is that he works with a program called “Big Brothers Big Sisters.” Every week he goes to a local elementary school and helps Matthew with his homework, plays basketball, and hangs out with him. Josh wants to teach history in his future so over Christmas break, he went to Jamaica to teach children about Jesus and other fundamentals. He loves missions and has been on other trips including Uganda, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Josh loves purple and people mistake him for Macklemore. He cooks some of the best dinners and bakes amazing banana bread. When I was sick a few weeks ago he so graciously brought me chicken noodle soup and Sprite and didn’t let me pay him back.
I tell you all these things because I want you to see his actions. Josh may not be vocally shouting that he’s radiant in Christ but the way that he treats people and lovingly serves friends and strangers is louder than any words. Be encouraged and challenged today. 1 John 3:18 states it simply, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
Josh, I am so thankful for you. Who would have thought at the end of the summer until now that our best friends would be best friends!?! From every moment of laughter to every moment of annoyance you’ve given me, you make me appreciate the little things in life. The way you pursue your school work and keep lists on your computer of to do lists is diligence at it’s finest. You push me to be better with my school work too. Remember the time you went swimming with Taylor and Daniel without me? I’m glad you had a blast. Remember the night that you let Taylor drive your car and let me blare your speakers? Yeah, you’re brave. This is how you bring so much delight into my life. Thanks for S H O W I N G me how to be R A D I A N T.
[mikaela]
[mikaela]