GROWING UP IN GRAND RAPIDS WEST MICHIGAN, DAVE "DJ" DEJONG WAS A CLASSMATE & A "FRIEND" (i think) of MINE..., and yet so many years later he remains a mystery to me...making me still wonder , was he REALLY a friend, or was something else going on? I want to believe he was a TRUE friend, but sometimes I get an uneasy feeling that I've been "played" by him...or "duped" or "used" ...nothing that I can put my finger definitely on, but...
...but most recently I received an email from him saying that he attended our high school 30-year reunion (2015), which I knew nothing about...; why did he tell me about it ex-post-facto, and not beforehand so that I could plan to attend (if I had so desired)? Was he trying to "rub it in" and make me feel bad that I missed it? Not sure. He calls me "brother" ...as if he has an affection for me, but is it sincere?
...to understand my ambivalence you have to go back to the 1970's when I was still in 4th grade at alger elementary school, our local public school. The next year, starting 5th grade, my parents decided it was time for me to go to the Christian school, like all my other siblings. So I transferred over to Seymour Christian, only a few blocks away, but with a definitely different atmosphere, as one would expect and hope for in contrast to the public school...
...but it was NOT all a positive difference. IN fact, it may have been the very first day that I arrived at the new school and did not know a single person...I remember vaguely wandering out into the field during recess and all the boys (my male classmates) were playing baseball ...i think i arrived late and so wasn't included...so i was just watching from behind the backstop...
...not sure what sparked it, but it was DJ who did something to start a fight with me...that's something I remember definitely albeit not what started it.. I think he was picking on me for some reason.. so that was the "beginning" of our new "friendship"...
[and there's lots more to explain but I don't
have time right now...but given I am dedicating an entire blog to this topic , believe me, it's worth it {to me, to try to work this out in my mind]...
MEANWHILE, until I can get back to this narrative, I ask for you to pray for DAVE DJ DEJONG and his wife and family (he's married with children in GR)...and pray for me to try to reconcile the ambivalence I still have so many years later about our "relationship"...; hear my prayer: Father-Son-Spirit !