Kreech

I never know quite how to introduce her or talk about her. If I mention her as my friend I have to explain she’s older than me and has a real life job. I could call her my young life leader, because she was for a long time and she still leads me in a lot of ways, but that’s not entirely accurate. I could also call her my mentor, although that sounds stiff to me and also raises a lot of questions about what she mentors me in. Maybe I’ll just start with the basics.

Kreech is short for Creature, which is not even a nickname I gave her. I began calling her Kreech to annoy her (yup…freshman me thought I was soooo funny) and soon just called her that all the time. It made things less confusing because I know a lot of people named Alli or Allison/Alyson. Her real name is Allison. Some people call her Alli or Al, I just continued to call her Kreech and kept her nickname alive. (oh she got the name because of her creature like tendencies, which sounds really creepy, mostly it’s because of a funny picture)

Kreech was a Young Life leader at Fairfax when I met her. She was a junior in college on her way to a nursing degree. I know you may read Young Life and think “just another person Grace knows from that crazy organization”, but at the time young life was this thing I wasn’t even sure I liked or wanted to go to at all.

My first ever fall weekend was just me, one of my friends, and Kreech. She showed us everything, we talked a lot, that weekend got me hooked on young life. (okay THAT and the cute boys and gagaball)

Fast forward to the August before my sophomore year, and we met for lunch to catch up. I had been to camp for the first time, which had been amazing, and I told her all about that. She told me about her summer as an intern and her new boyfriend. (he actually wasn’t that new, just new to me because I hadn’t seen her in a few months)

Beginning of that school year she started discipling me. The best way I can define discipling is a one-on-one Bible study. I wish I could say everything was butterflies and rainbows but at the time we started meeting, I was a MESS. I had just lost my best friend, I was doing a lot of soul searching, school was hard.

Maybe that’s why I clung so tightly to our weekly meetings. I looked forward to Wednesdays with my whole heart. We read Love Does and talked about everything there is to talk about.

At times we were both extremely stressed (honestly, most of the time).

I developed this fear of losing her. I have seen so many leaders come and go, so many times. You move on, but it hurts and sometimes you just wish someone would stay. I was just waiting for something to happen that would split us apart.

Despite us both moving houses, her graduating, and me continuing to get busier than ever, our weekly meetings held up.

It hasn’t been all happy, coffee, and reading a good book about Jesus. I’ve had to open up a lot (a good thing) which is hard for me. I’ve cried some in front of her, something else I don’t like doing.

Throughout everything, Kreech has been steady. Always loving me, always caring, making sure I knew she was here to stay. I seceretly thought for sure when she moved and our houses became an hour away from eachother that it’d be over.

I was wrong (thank goodness).

We have met weekly for two full years now, going on three.

What I wish I could tell people when I talk about Kreech is that she is more than a leader, more than a mentor, and more than a friend who happens to be five years older than me. She’s loved me at my worst. She’s been the voice of Jesus when I refused to listen to the voice of Jesus. She rebukes the lies I believe and speaks truth over my life. She makes me laugh and reminds me what I stress about is so small compared to the entirety of life and microscopic compared to the blessings God has prepared. She tells me when I’m being dramatic. Her life is an example to me of Christ’s power to redeem. She reminds me of the definition of my name. She prays over me and for me.

what have I done to deserve love like this?

I used to be so fearful she’d walk away, now I know she won’t and can’t (like actually..she’s stuck with me for life now and she knows that).

I have so much to be grateful for and Kreech is one of the people I am most grateful for, I just thought everyone should know a little more about her.

And since I know you were wondering, the boyfriend she had? They’re engaged now:)