31 Paul

New York's massive population ironically leads to a great deal of loneliness. The City so teems with bodies that all of them close off their souls in an attempt to preserve a modicum of privacy.

Yet that wasn't my experience in New York.

My brother Paul is almost six years younger than me. Growing up, many of my activities (baseball, mowing, acting, Kamiakin, swing dancing, and Bethel) were shared jointly with brother Zach, just two-and-a-half years my junior, but Paul was too young to participate. Paul eventually did all those things (well, except for baseball and mowing), but many of them happened after I left for college.

In 2003, after I graduated from college and Paul "graduated" from high school, I spent the summer at home and began to see Paul as a peer. I played a lot of ultimate frisbee with Paul and his friends and realized that Paul had been maturing and had chosen his friends very wisely.

I moved to D.C. and had some less than ideal roommate situations. Paul moved to L.A. and had the same. Our friendship grew and I remember that at Christmas '04, Paul speculated that I'd make a pretty good roommate for him and that he'd be a good one for me. He was right.

After being admitted to Columbia, I missed the deadline to secure university housing. God used my laziness for his good purpose. As I started my classes in August, Paul was hired to write for Engadget. While he could work from anywhere, most of the blog's editors lived in NYC. So, in October he flew across the country and we moved into a one-bedroom in Harlem.

Our New York experience centered on our great little community of believers, City Church. God had independently introduced us to Sovereign Grace Ministries, Paul in Pasadena and me in Fairfax, VA. Paul and I rode that D train to the F train come hell or high-water--talking theology, politics, music, family, and everything else important.

We also shared a drug-dealing super, two amazingly bad TimeWarner internet connections, LOST (till Paul quit), an Arctic Monkeys concert, six weeks without hot water, and so much more.

When Mrs. Miller came into my life, Paul was longsuffering. Of course he was very happy that I had found the right woman, but I devoted so much time to courting to my Love that, as the photo at right suggests, Paul sometimes felt squeezed.

But that all changed after the wedding. Paul became the most frequent guest at our dinner table. The conversations between the three of us were wonderful and God-glorifying. The Three Millers were a force, strengthened by our numbers.

Paul, in all my prayers for you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now. You are the top thing I will miss about New York.