This is my bro. Many of you know him as Josh. Many others (here at PTS) know him as “Bro.” Others out in the blogging world may have known him as Broshi for a few months while he had his blog. Josh and I met my senior year of high school when I came to visit Whitworth. His last name is Cleveland. Mine is Cleaveland. You can guess that we constantly give each other crap about this little fun-fact. In fact, we had some people fooled all through Whitworth, believing that we were actually brothers. I thought he was a dork my freshman year at Whitworth and he thought I was a total ass (because I was a total ass at a weekend retreat when I was in his small group). Then he was my RA my sophomore year and he had to put up with a lot of friendship issues that me and Tony were having. I got to know him a bit better that year, as well as the next year. When he left to go work at Texas, we IMed a lot and became better friends again, and we hung out when he came to visit Whitworth my senior year. When we were both doing youth ministry (me in Idaho and Josh in Texas) we would talk to each other on the phone almost every day. Our friends laughed at us…”you two bicker like an ‘ole married couple” they would say. We’d simply smile (because we know it’s true). I visited Josh twice down in Texas, which was fun and then we took a kick-ass roadtrip from Texas to Seattle this past summer.
And now we’re both at Princeton, learning, struggling and trying to figure out what the hell God has in store for us. I’ve met some truly wonderful people here at PTS and have many new friends…but there is truly something to be said for a friend who you know and who knows you…a friend you have history with…a friend you don’t have to explain everything to about your past…and this is Josh for me. He’s a dear friend who I know will remain one for life. We don’t agree on everything, but we have more in common than not. We are very similar in many ways, and I appreciate his gracious-spirit and ability to listen to me. Thank you Josh, for your friendship and love.
