Heroes in My World 2

The other person I wanted to write about is one of my best friends, Josh Oberheide (aka “Obe 1”). I met Josh in the summer of 1996 when we were on a missionary trip in Tyumen, Russia. We hit it off and quickly became great friends.

We kept in touch after that summer and since he only lived a couple hours away, it wasn't difficult for us to get together a couple times. I think he was the first one to tell me about Cornerstone Festival. Perhaps I had heard of it already, but he was definitely the one who actually got me to go, telling me how awesome an experience it was. In the summer of 1997 I went with him and his family to the festival and loved it. I have continued to go every year since (Yes, 14 years in a row).

We both planned to intern at the same youth ministry (Teen Mania Ministries) after high school, so we transplanted ourselves to Texas for a year in August of 1997. That internship was quite an intense experience (that's a whole other post, or series of posts . . .) and it was great to go into it having a close friend. I forged some other great friendships while there, of course, but this post is about Josh.

After our year in Texas, I returned to Indiana while Josh stayed at Teen Mania working for several years. We still kept in touch and would usually see each other once a year when I visited for alumni reunions.

Several weeks ago I was thinking about him and the fact that we have not talked in a while. I was pretty sure we had not talked since my heart incident in 2007, and that simply would not do. This past week we finally caught each other and talked for a long time. It was great; one of those times when you just pick up where you left off. It was really encouraging for me, too.

I am very thankful for our long-lasting friendship. :]