Last night, my family and I had an opportunity to hang out with some friends.  There were 27 people at this gathering…and 16 of them were kids (if my math is correct :) ) Anyway, it was such an amazing night.  My wife and I love all the people we hung out with…we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Why?  Because everyone there was REAL.  We didn’t feel an ounce of judgment or competition in the room.  We were simply free to be ourselves.  It is truly a blessing to be with a group of friends that accept you for who you are, do not judge you, do not critique your parenting skills (even if your child is having a rough night) and do not expect you to be something you are not.  Often times, with the nature of my job, I can feel the need to appear to have it all together…and have to put up walls in relationships.  Not that I have anything to hide…and I am certainly not embarrassed by my family.  But, unfortunately, there is a lot of judgment in our world.  We are just extremely blessed to have such wonderful friends and last night we both just felt comfortable…comfortable to be ourselves and enjoy the evening…comfortable being who God created us to be…comfortable to have “normal” conversation…simply comfortable in our own skin.  What a great picture of what the Church looks like.  What a great picture of community.