Continuing with this week’s blog series related to Crash’s most recent series, Home, I want to share about another kind of person that makes Home a reality.

In August of 2003, I met Blake Schilly (the guy in the middle above). Blake had transferred to the university where I was working on my Bachelors in Biblical Studies and Historical/Theological Studies. When we first met, we did not hit it off. He felt that I was arrogant (probably a good description) and our dominant personalities clashed immediately. Ultimately, we had so many mutual friends to maintain animosity and we became close friends. By the time the next fall rolled around, we were both in each other’s inner circle. We were two big fish in a small pond and had a blast over the next two years having our run of the school (me leading the largest on-campus ministry and Blake becoming the student body president). Graduation came and went for both of us, and we got to enjoy being roommates for about a year with two other friends. We stood at groomsmen for each other’s wedding in the summer of 2008. We still look forward to grabbing lunch every month at Two Hippies or Chick-Fil-A.

Enough about our history. Why do you need a Blake in your life? Well, whatever you do, it becomes very easy to build your greatest community out of that place and those people. For me, this is incredibly natural. Since I serve on staff at a church, so many of my close friends are staff teammates, volunteers, leadership partners, leaders within other churches, and the like.

Blake is none of those things. He volunteers with his church’s ministry to highschoolers, along with his wife, Julie. When Blake and I meet for lunch during the week, or when we get together with our wives, we do not have to talk about church. And that’s why you need a Blake in your life. There are some times when I call Blake and need to have lunch and need an hour or so, when I don’t have to be a pastor or talk about the good or bad of what’s happening in the church I am helping to lead. I call this having a “non-utilitarian friend”. So many of our relationships, meetings, and gatherings end up becoming less about relationships and more about accomplishing and getting work done, tackling an agenda. When you can build Blake’s into your life – people who are for you and believe in you, who will do anything for your good, who refuse to accept any pretense from you, those relationships can be your salvation when you need to hit the release valve when it comes to whatever you are deeply invested in (your job, another commitment, personal crisis, etc.).

Thanks Blake and Julie for your consistent friendship and the freedom Dani and I have around you. Your impact on our lives goes beyond what you probably can comprehend.

-Savage