Everyday Encounter with God

Pastor Sylvia's Encounters with God in the Midst of Everyday Life

 

Find My Friends

Husband and I have a phone app called “Find My Friends” that allows us to check on each other and estimate when we might both be back home. However, on days when I need a girlfriend, it is useless. This weekend I went to Whidbey Island to visit mine.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 is often read at weddings. I believe the author intended a much wider application:

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer.”

The very best investments we can ever make in life are not financial, they are relational-- first, with God and second with other people. Here’s what I think good friends are meant to be...

First is someone who provides emotional warmth in a cold world. True friendship is the deliberate knitting together of souls. We all need to be loved without condition as we navigate life. These are the people I can talk with, laugh with, sing with, pray with and even cry with.

When I am with my true friends I breathe more freely. My soul can be naked. I am able to admit my vanities, weaknesses, struggles, and faults, knowing that each will be dissolved in the deep ocean of my friends’ loyalty. They choose to love me for who I am today… and also for what I can become tomorrow under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.

I love them that same way.

Also, a real friend will fight to protect your reputation. Not only do they not stab you in the back, true friends guard you; they protect you from life’s injustices.

Jackie Robinson was the first Black American to play baseball in the major leagues. Breaking baseball’s color barrier, he faced hostile crowds in every stadium. While playing one day in Brooklyn, he committed an error. The fans began to jeer. He stood there humiliated while the crowd booed. Then, without saying a word, shortstop Pee Wee Reese went over and stood next to Jackie. He put his arm around his friend and faced the crowd. Suddenly the fans were quiet.

Robinson later said that that arm around his shoulder saved his career.

Pee Wee Reese did that for Jackie Robinson. Jesus did it for us.

Next, true friends help each other become better people. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”

There are many people who don’t want anyone to remind them of their faults; they want to be unconditionally adored. I don’t. My true friends aren’t afraid to motivate me to be all that God intends. It hurts sometimes, but I appreciate that they tell me the truth in gentleness and love. No single quality blesses me more.

And finally, my true friends help me when I’m down. Do you know how to tell the difference between acquaintances and a friend? When you are traveling through adversity the people standing beside you are your real friends. Everyone needs at least one person who believes in them when they’ve stopped believing in themselves.

My phone app is useless when it comes to finding a lasting friendship, however there’s a foolproof formula:  

I went out to find a friend,
And could not find one there.
I went out to be a friend,
And friends were everywhere!