FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE FAMILY TIES / / BY JUSTIN FRONING Family is a beautiful thing, and over the years, I have had the great pleasure of experiencing it in ways I never imagined. I didn't grow up with a large nuclear family, and though I've always been close with my brother, he was much older than me and was deployed in the military almost as long as I can remember. I made many friends throughout my younger years, but when it came down to it, I was always more of a lone wolf than a member of any clique. However, toward the end of high school, everything changed. Throughout my seventeenth year, I found myself learning about, amazed by, and falling in love with Jesus Christ. It was a transition and transformation that changed my life in more ways than I ever could have conceived, and one of the most formative being my view on family. Paul describes with great eloquence the fact that we who place our faith in Jesus IZMKPQTLZMVWN /WLIVLKWPMQZ[_Q\P+PZQ[\?MTTJaLMÅ VQ\QWV\PI\[]LLMVTa expanded the breadth of my family beyond measure. Now I was surrounded by brothers and sisters, and the excitement of that transformed my introversion as I found every conversation and encounter to be a possible foundation of a meaningful and enduring relationship. A few years down the road, I joined a band and had the great fortune of spending years traveling the country with these people who would become enduring brothers and sisters to me. I was able to be at each of their weddings, and was always excited about the growing family. I had never had a sister, so to be around these ladies 24/7 now was such a great new experience, and I can say with certainty that they helped smooth some of my rough edges. To go from living alone to spending literally all of your time with seven people — most of it each day in a moving vehicle — is quite a shock, and I can't see how people do it without a common faith and hope. For me, it was one of the greatest seasons of my life, and I’ll always love my former bandmates and the experiences I'll never forget. Tours could last for months, so we gained friends in fellow touring bands and met people across the country who opened their homes and lives to us. There are few cities in the United States where I can’t think of someone I know that I could visit and have a great time catching up with, and that feels very special to me. Several families became close enough that even my Mom and Dad would call them my “Road Parents” and have remained dear friends to this day. Throughout my post-college years, I've had some of the best roommates I could have ever asked for. I recall times of studying Scripture and praying together, and every one of them became a dear brother and a man I could lean on in tough times and rejoice with in the great times. In recent years, I’ve learned even more iterations of family as my amazing wife came with a great one — gaining yet another set of loving parents and another brother, and most recently have learned the joy of being a father. Family is surely a blessed thing, in all of its various and wonderful forms. JUSTIN FRONING Justin Froning is the Director of Marketing and Creative at Celebrate Arkansas . He holds a degree from the University of Arkansas and a certificate from Tauernhof Bibel Schule in Schladming, Austria. He and his wife, Ciara, and son, Fox, live in Rogers and serve at Metro Church. 12 CELEBRATEARKANSAS.COM || JULY 2017
Celebrate July 2017: Page 12
