For my brother, my friend.

My little brother turned twenty on Sunday, October 17th. My little brother that used to play cowboys and indians with me in the woods. My little brother that used to strip down and run around the house doing the "naked booty dance" with me. (Yes, we know we're weird.) That little brother turned twenty, and I find that so hard to believe.

In the last twenty years, my little brother has accomplished a lot.

In the last twenty years, my little brother has overcome so many obstacles.

In the last twenty years, my little brother graduated high school and then went on to graduate from the best technical school in the country. He makes me proud.

My little brother taught my even little-er brother how to ride a dirtbike, and in doing so sparked a passion that has become an incredible talent.

Justin spent hours and hours every summer with little kids at vacation bible school who absolutely adored him, and I saw just how much he adorned them, too.

He played on a semi-professional paintball team and also paintball-ed my car once. Awesome.

My little brother has done a thousand stupid things in the past twenty years, but he's done a million things right.

Over the past twenty years, my little brother Justin has become my friend. And I love him very, very much.

I heard this song while driving home tonight. It's so great to hear truth in the midst of troubled times.


There's a girl in the corner
With tear stains on her eyes
From the places she's wandered
And the shame she can't hide

She says, "How did I get here?
I'm not who I once was.
And I'm crippled by the fear
That I've fallen too far to love"

But don't you know who you are,
What's been done for you?
Yeah don't you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

Well she tries to believe it
That she's been given new life
But she can't shake the feeling
That it's not true tonight

She knows all the answers
And she's rehearsed all the lines
And so she'll try to do better
But then she's too weak to try

But don't you know who you are?

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

'Cause this is not about what you've done,
But what's been done for you.
This is not about where you've been,
But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel,
But what He felt to forgive you,
And what He felt to make you loved.

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

You are more than the choices that you've made,
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

You've been remade
You've been remade.
You've been remade.
You've been remade.

-You are More, Tenth Avenue North