P.S. I love you.

Pearl snap shirts are one of God’s finest creations. Different colors, patterns, and styles offer many options for decorating the torso. Short sleeves when it is warm. Long sleeves when it is cold. Long sleeves rolled up when the cold morning becomes a warm afternoon. Feeling formal? Tuck it in. Feeling confident? Pop the collar. Plaid is like Montana camouflage. Wear it everyday. A simple white with pearl snaps is fitting for the finest wedding celebration. Senior pictures? Pearl snaps. Chopping firewood? Pearl snaps. First date? Pearl Snaps. Preaching a sermon? Pearl snaps. Going 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu? Pearl snaps. It doesn’t matter where you are, what you’re doing, when you are there, whom you are with, or why you choose to do so – pearl snaps are always an option.

For some people, pearl snaps shirts are very familiar, old news, or even out dated. Other people have no clue what is being described. In between these two groups are those who have not considered the significance pearl snaps can have on a human life.

There was a time in my life when my pearl snap perspective was distorted. I thought only older gentlemen who wore cowboy boots to church covered their backs with those pearl snap shirts. During this unfortunate time in my life, a fortunate event took place - I was introduced to my church’s summer youth intern, Matthew W. Nelson.

When I met Matt, I didn’t just look at pearl snap shirts differently, but I only saw Jesus as a part of Sunday morning, Wednesday night, and maybe a week at camp in the summer. Reading the Bible only came after singing the songs on Sunday and Wednesday. I was a teenager who “knew what was up” and wanted to do my own thing. It was also during this time that I hated wearing collared shirts. Collared shirts were for church. Pearl snaps were for old guys at church. Maybe it was clear to the wise, parent-aged people at church that Matt had some work to do...

Matt showed me the joy of digging through the bowels of thrift stores, searching for the ever so illusive pearl snap shirt. Only now do I look back and see the intentionality behind Matt’s dedication to spend countless hours in stinky old buildings, digging through piles of stinky old clothes, with a stinky young man. At the same time, God was hard at work as Matt showed me how to search for Jesus in my everyday life.

That summer with Matt, I was able to follow a man walking the walk that I heard about on Sunday morning. No matter where we found ourselves, the conversation turned to Jesus. Driving through town in a church van? Matt asks thoughtful, Spirit-led questions. Vacuuming the floor of the movie store? Matt is talking to the manager about the God who brought them both to Montana. Buying another pair of polyester pants at the Salvation Army? Matt lets the cashier know that Jesus has paid the price for us all. Disagree with the head of the household? Matt talks to God about it. Late nights followed by early mornings? Matt put Jesus on top of the priority list for the day.

Fortunately this friendship didn’t end with the internship. Countless times during high school I would call Matt to tell him about the cool new pearl snap I found at a thrift store. Quite often he would let me know about the cool new nugget he found in the Bible. We have both grown and changed over the years. Life’s experiences have shaped familiar memories into the present reality. The difficult changes are easily overshadowed by the beautiful things that remain the same – pearl snaps and the open invitation to allow Jesus into our everyday lives.