My friend

I have a long-distance friend called Brandon the Orthodox. I call him this, not because he does not have other interesting features, but because I know many Brandons, and he is the only Orthodox Christian among them, and we have a habit of discussing Orthodox Christianity almost every night over facebook chat.
These conversations often last for hours each night, and occasionally dive into other topics, but eventually wind up with him explaining some Orthodox tradition or practice to me, such as icons or liturgical prayer, and then my challenging it, and him refuting my challenge, and my eventual mental exhaustion and need for sleep terminating the conversation. Which leaves me to ponder the discussion as I drift off into oblivion.
As a result of these conversations, I have NOT gone Orthodox (yet), but I have reconsidered and re-evaluated many practices generally accepted in my church community. For example, I have realized that liturgical prayer is not useless, and is, in fact, beautiful and beneficial. I have also been led to ponder the nature of the word "image," and of symbolic acts such as Communion and baptism. And in these discussions, I discover how much I do not know, how much I do not understand. And often, I realize it is not for me to understand. For if I were to understand and know everything, there would be no mystery in God, no awe in worship. And I am satisfied in not knowing in full, and knowing only in part, so that God may further be glorified.