Friendship has been one of the enduring values of my life. From middle/high school to college to grad school and on into my professional career, I’ve been privileged with deep and impacting friendships. I can trace three of these relationships all the way back to the 8th grade (1985 or so – our lives were much like an episode of Stranger Things).
These people have wide ranging interests and opinions. I’ve not made a friend yet with whom I agree in total. Some of my friends disagree with me significantly in areas like education, the arts, religion, politics, use of technology, and so on. Their interests, passions, and (yes) even their opposing opinions have been deeply important and generative for my life. All the varying perspectives have expanded my capacity to think and imagine and act in the world.
The poet Christian Wiman has said, “…we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both.” I think we can make the claim that friendship, at its best, helps us to live more fully. At the least, I can make that claim for myself.
All of that to say that I’ve started to ask some of my friends to guest post here from time to time. In the spirit of knowing What Work Is, I’m asking them to post about things they find admirable, interesting, life giving, and worthy of their affection. The posts will cover a wide range of topics: film, home design, theology, music, community involvement, surfing, and much more.
What Work Is 
