When Your Path Crossed Mine

​About a year and a half ago, I was on my internship in Fairfield, Ohio and was looking around at some of the stores in the local outlet center. I was specifically in a JCPenney’s in the jewelry section when I found a necklace that I instantly fell in love with. What I loved about this necklace was the message that was engraved on the band of the charm. It read,

“I am thankful that in God’s design, he planned it so that your path crossed mine.”

​I didn’t immediately buy it, but eventually I did go back to buy, because I couldn’t stop thinking about the powerful line engraved on it. It’s now my favorite necklace and I wear it all the time. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with the thought. God does allow our lives to be shaped that the people that crossed our path and befriend us over the span of our lifetime. Based on the decisions of both people in a friendship, you have the ability to shape the other person’s life for the better, if you take the time to invest in them. I am so grateful for the way that many of my friends have invested time in their friendships with me.

The picture I took on my phone when I first found the necklace.

​More recently, I started thinking about this quote again, but I started to focus on the idea of when my path crossed with my friends. I have been blessed to have friends from so many different places and from different events in my life. Many of those circumstances I believe were orchestrated by God to bring these people into my life. As I thought about the ways in which I have met my friends, it dawned on me that there are several friends that I met under slightly strange and even humorous circumstances. So I thought I would share ten of these unique ways I made a friend. (Note: I am only listing these friends’ first names for the sake of privacy)

​Brittany – “I Knew It Was You and I Cheered For You!”

Best Picture of us, in my opinion ;)

Brittany was one of the first people I met in college that was a fellow music major. She was such an encouraging and supportive friend through all the ups and downs of getting used to the music dept. at OCC. Plus, she is responsible for helping me to see Wicked for the first time. She was a junior when I was a freshman, which meant that she started college at the same time as my older sister, so they were already friends. I can’t remember exactly when she told me, but she explained that when I was recognized as a scholarship recipient at the end of Highest Praise (the high choir tour from my alma mater. If you want to know more about Highest Praise, click here), she was there, and she cheered for me. She said, “I knew you were Jenn’s sister, and I was so excited for you!”

​That story makes me smile, because I love it when God brings people into your life that already know how you are before you meet them to help you along your way. For this reason, I am so grateful for Brittany.

Dani - A Unique Birthday Surprise

​Dani was one of my dearest friends at OCC, and also happens to be Brittany’s sister. We were freshman together, and she was a friend that helped bring me out of my shell at that time. She was always there when I needed to turn to her. She eventually became an RA our senior year. The day I remember meeting her, it was a few weeks into my first semester and I was wandering around my dorm hallway. I was about to go to my sister’s house to celebrate my 19th birthday, when Dani noticed me and asked if I wanted to watch a movie with them until it was time for me to leave. I sat down in Dani’s room with her roommate Tricia and a few other friends. I think they were watching the end of The Notebook, or something like that (Anyone that remembers is free to correct me if I’m wrong). After a little bit of watching and chatting, it was time for me to leave.

Fav picture of us

I was laughing so hard when I found this in my room!

This was not necessarily the strange part, other than that fact that I didn't really know Dani at the time. What was strange is that when I returned that night, I found that my bookshelves had been TPed and a Jonas Brothers poster had been left on my bed (back in my JB-obsessed days *cough, cough*). The TP had been colored on with markers and said messages like “Happy Birthday!” “You Have a Beautiful Smile”, and my personal favorite, “The One Birthday to Rule Them All!” Dani and Tricia made a habit of doing special things for your first college birthday in the dorm. I remember Dani saying, “I think your first birthday away from home should be something special.” When Dani became RA, she also started a tradition of TPing every girls’ doorway on her birthday.

It just made me smile to this about this special gift, because I hardly knew them at the time, but they eventually became close friends. It was this simple funny act of kindness that started our friendship. It was because of Dani that I met many of my other closest friends from OCC, like my longest roommate Teresa. Because of this and so many other things, I am so grateful for Dani.

Toby – In the Pool On Choir Tour

​My second concert choir tour (March 2012), I was swimming in the pool with a few other choir members when Toby started taking to me. I had seen Toby before, since we only had 25 people in our choir, but we had never really talked. I remember he was taking voice lessons that semester for the first time and was asking advice. Whatever the case, we eventually got into the hot tub and continued to chat. After a little while, we realized that everyone else had left and we figured we probably need to get ready to go to the see the play In the Heights that night in downtown Dallas. However, it became this huge joke between us that we met in a hot tub alone. But just to clarify, nothing happened! I am so grateful for Toby and the good friend he was to me in college.

The only picture of have of Toby and I

Miri – “I’m Your New Roommate. I Think You Know My Boyfriend”

Only picture of the two of us

​My last spring semester on campus (2013), I had a roommate that left school during Christmas break, and I was told I needed to take a new roommate who would probably be a transfer student. Needless to say, I was very nervous about taking a roommate I didn’t know, but our SDO told me that she seemed like a good match to my profile. When she called me before she moved in, we chatted for a few minutes, but then she told me, “I think you already know my boyfriend, Toby.” The fact that I already had a connection to her put me at ease about having a new roommate, and as it turns out, Miri and I got pretty close in that semester we were roommates. But I just recently realize how funny it is the way were connected. She and Toby actually got married that summer. I am still so grateful for Miri.

Terry – “Do You Like Lord of the Rings?”

Terry actually became one of my college professors, but I met him long before I started college. We actually met when I was in Highest Praise and only a freshman in high school. My first year in HP, we were on the way to a concert when our busses (we had 2 that year) got stuck at a weight station because of some lost paperwork. We were waiting at least an hour. I remember getting kind of bored and wandering towards the front of the bus where our adult sponsors would sit. Terry offered to let me sit next to him and we just started chatting. Somewhere in that conversation, we discovered that we both loved Lord of the Rings. We talked about other things too, but that was what sparked the conversation. And that was only the beginning of many conversations to come about our love of Tolkien and Middle-earth in the years to come.

From my college graduation (2014)

​Terry is one of the few people that I would dare to say loves Middle-earth more than I do. He is so well-researched on the subject and we had many intelligent conversations about it over the years. Of course we talked about other things too, but this was unique because I had the chance to create a friendship with one of my professors (outside the music dept.) before I was in college. When I finally got to Ozark, Terry and I were already great friends. I eventually came to be his student assistant and graded papers for him, and I would usually come up to his office to visit with him about once every other week. For one of his birthdays, I decorated his office with a Lord of the Rings theme as a surprise. It just seems funny in hindsight that we became friends because of Lord of the Rings. I am so grateful for Terry and our long-lasting friendship.

Pictures from my LOTR Birthday Surprise for Terry. It was so fun to plan this crazy surprise! (2011)

I may have borrowed this phrase from my birthday surprise from early, but it fit! lol

Taylor – “I Didn’t Know Your Last Name!”

​Taylor (a girl Taylor, just to clarify) and I met because our moms were a part of the local MOPS program together. We were good friends in junior high and high school. But what was funny is that we met after our siblings had met, my little sister and her little brother. She knew about me prior to meeting me in person, but not long after she meant, she told me that she didn’t know my last name, because her little brother referred to my little sister with their last name! We both cracked up about it, but it was definitely a funny way to be introduced to a friend. I am so grateful for Taylor’s friendship.

High School Friends – “Would You Like To Share A Snack?”

It sometimes hard to remember what my life was like before I went to Kankakee Trinity Academy for junior high. I had been homeschooled for several years, but my parents decided that my sisters and I needed more structure to our education. I remember making a visit to KTA the spring before we enrolled. Since I was going into 7th grade in fall, I got to spend the morning with the 6th grade class so I could meet students in my grade, and then I spent the afternoon in the junior high class to see the teacher. Now I don’t remember a whole ton of details about this visit. I mostly read a book while they were going over their lessons and working. But for some reason, I remember that they had a morning snack time when they got to pick one thing out of their lunches. I was unprepared, but I remember a few of the kids offered me a little of their snacks, one of which was those pudding bites that were popular at the time.
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I think back to remember that there four people in the class that day that stayed at KTA until we graduated, and the first memory I had of them was the simple act of kindness of offering me part of their snack. I don’t remember if Laura, Laura (yes, there were two), Ari, and Ray all offered me something, but it’s funny to think that was the moment that started it all. We all got pretty close in our high school years, along with the others that joined our class, and I am still blessed to remember all the good times we had at KTA. I am so thankful for all of them.

Daniel – “Can I Color With You?”

Daniel was another friend I made on my second concert choir tour in college. Prior to tour, I knew of Daniel, but we hadn’t had a conversation that I could recall. Our first full day on the road, we were traveling to Shreveport, LA. We had just gotten back on the bus after eating lunch. Apparently Daniel had noticed that I brought my Jumbo Disney Princess Coloring Book on the bus with me the day before and it gave him an idea. It was one of the strangest ways a person I hardly knew started up a conversation with me.

​“Hey Bethel, do you have that coloring book?”
“Um, yes…”
“Do you have crayons?”
“Um, yes…”
“Can I come color with you?”
“Um, sure…”

​He came to my seat, picked out a coloring page, and we got to know each other while coloring princess pictures for about 2 hours! As it turned out, Daniel loves to color with crayons and is quite gifted with using them. (His coloring skills put mine to shame! lol) He knew that we had a common interest and used that as an opportunity to introduce himself. 

The finished pictures from our first conversation. I still marvel at his coloring skills!

​I laugh when I think about it or look at the picture. It’s one of my favorite stories about making a friend to retell because it was so funny! I am so grateful to have Daniel as a friend. 

Angela & Kendra – Disney Princesses 

​These friends are actually unknown to each other, but I call them both my Disney twins! The reasons why I am listing them together is because the circumstances under which I befriended both these ladies was very similar, and had to do with Disney Princesses.

​Kendra was a friend from my music ministry internship. She is the daughter of one of the staff members at the church. I met Kendra at the end of the first day in the office on my internship, but even before I met her, a few people were saying, “You should meet Kendra. She a lot like you. She loves Disney Princesses too.”

​And as it turns out, when I met her after a meeting, she had a Rapunzel phone case, had Mickey Mouse nails, and was talking about her trip to Disney World! I also found out that we both have adult sized Rapunzel costumes. It was rather humorous! Needless to say, we got along well from the moment we started talking.

Angela is a friend I meet less than a year ago through some other friend connections. We technically met on Christmas Eve, but we didn’t have much of a chance to talk until my family had a small Christmas party at our house the day after Christmas. Angela came with a family friend and we got to talking. I don’t even remember exactly how the conversation turned into Disney, but when I told her I had a Beauty and the Beast collection, she got so excited! I showed her my collection on display in my room and the next thing we knew, we had tentatively made plans to have a Disney movie marathon! Since then, we have had several! (Plus, it's funny to observe that we are wearing identical leather jackets in this picture! And it was totally on accident! haha)

​It just funny to me how something that is meant to bring joy to children can bring joy to adults as well, and actually bring people of common interest together. For this reason, I am so grateful for both Kendra and Angela.

Brandon – “Can You Help Me With My Makeup?”

​One of the strangest ways I have ever befriended a guy was while doing his makeup. Brandon was a guy that I only really knew because he had the lead part in our Christmas program that year (2011). Since I was in charge of makeup, I was asked to help him. Brandon, being his usual friendly self, decided to strike up conversation with me. I remember thinking it was a little weird since I was literally all up in his face, but in hindsight, he was really being sweet and his usual self. I don't remember most of our conversations, but I think he was really just trying to get to know me.

As the week progressed, I remember I was having problems with my feet, and he encouraged me to sit down while I was helping him. We had just gotten instructions from our director to use the lipstick color on his cheeks instead of the blush because it was the best for his skin tone. I remember testing it on his face, seeing that it looked OK, and then preceding to put more on him while saying, “This is kind of weird. I’ve never put lipstick on someone’s cheeks before.” We both started cracking up! But I remember that after we finished laughing, he said, “I’m glad I could make you laugh during this time,” remembering that my feet were in some pain. Again, at the time I thought it was strange, but now I realize how sweet it was that he was that considerate of how I was feeling.

Part of the reason this story is special to me is because Brandon passed away a little over a year later. I didn't have the chance to get super close to him, but the short time we were friends made a big impact on my life that I did not realize until after his death. Even though he is gone, I am still so grateful to have called him my friend. To read more about Brandon’s story, click here.

Final Thoughts

​Well there you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading these stories as I did recall these memories of how some of my most special friendships began. I want to encourage you to remember that you never know when or how God will cross your path with someone he wants you to befriend. You never know how God will use you to impact someone’s life. Remember the quote I shared at the beginning, think about the people it applies to, thank God for crossing your path, and live out your friendships in that gratitude. You will never look at friendships the same way again.