Tim

This is my brother, Tim.

He is hilarious, athletic, and probably hungry right now. He loves George Washington, almond butter, coaching football, cheese enchiladas, his black Honda Civic, and the West Wing.

More importantly, Tim is caring, studious, selfless, and thoughtful. He loves Christ, people, and flying airplanes. If you haven't met my brother, I am sad for you.

Tim and I hated each other's guts when we were growing up. As the older sister, I would get mad at Tim for being annoying and then sit or stand on top of him until he turned bright red. Tim, in return, would shoot cap guns in my eyes or push me into pieces of furniture and then laugh hysterically. Unfortunately for Tim, most of the friends and cousins we grew up with were girls, so we would purposefully leave him out of activities. He would get so mad and then go cry to my mom, who often made us include him.

Then we grew up. High school did amazing things for our relationship, and college was even better. Now, Tim is not just my brother but one of my best friends. Tim was skeptical of Andrew when we first started dating. Even though Tim is younger than me, he treated me like the protective older brother watching out for his sis. Eventually, Andrew proved that he was worth keeping around, and now the two of them are great friends, too.

There are many reasons why I admire my brother. He will probably never tell you this because he thinks it is nerdy, but Tim is a National Merit Scholar. That means he is really smart. Not too many people in the U.S. are National Merit Scholars, but Tim is, and he got a full ride to OU because of it. He managed to graduate a year early because of all of the credits he had from high school.

Also, Tim lived in the dorms during his entire three years in college. Most people are anxious to get out of the dorms after their first year, but Tim stayed with the purpose of reaching out to freshmen. This is just one of the many examples of Tim being willing to drop everything in order to be a good friend.

Tim cares about kids. He coaches middle school football basically for free every year, just because he loves it and wants to invest in the kids.

Finally, Tim's love for God is so obvious in everything he does. Tim loves the gospel, and it has changed the way he loves people and looks at the world. He rarely thinks about himself, which is humbling and convicting to me.

Tim graduates next week. He'll go on to be a commercial pilot and make the world a small and more connected place for many, many people. A lot of uncertainty lies in Tim's future as he does not know where he will be based (hopefully Houston!) after he completes his basic airline training in Memphis. But one thing is certain: Tim will continue to trust Christ with whatever lies ahead, and he will continue to love and care about those around him as he puts himself last.

So Tim, here's to you- my brother and my friend. You did it, and I've never been more proud.