Hello everyone! I’m back! I had a marvelous vacation where I was and so tonight, I would like to send a shout to all my friends through the blog and give some thoughts on friendship. It was marvelous getting to see some old friends again and some new friends for the very first time and ponder how much had changed.
Friends are a unique gift as I’ve said. If you’re with your family, you are with people that love you usually because you were born in that position. I realize not all families are this way. There are some families that don’t have love between certain members. Friends are people who always love you by choice. You are not forced to be someone’s friend. You can be encouraged to be a friend, but it is always a choice on the other person’s part to include you in the circle of friends.
Many of my friends have been with me through a lot and seen the changes that I’ve made in my life. I particularly think of when we got to the testimony time. The things I said I found hard to say even though they were things that were known. I will admit I was very cold in the room that I said them and I was extremely tired at the time, but I wonder if it was just also something so emotional that I found myself breaking up in what I said, and this is someone who has been said to be skilled as a public speaker.
There were memories that were made there that will last a lifetime. I think of the gift exchange also. All of the comments that were made with everyone in the white elephant game wanting everyone else to steal their gift. (I encourage readers to look up the white elephant game if they want the details and want to know about “stealing gifts.”)
I think about having us sit around the breakfast table sharing in the morning, and our group is one I feel comfortable around. I enjoyed our talk on the topic of the cults and getting to go to the arcade. I know one of you at least has a picture of me rocking out on the Guitar Hero game. (What all serious apologists do in arcades.) All of the inside jokes made for a unique ocassion.
I think it was Chesterton who once said that each of us is a great “might-not-have been.” For all of us, there was a possibility that we would not be. Now if we were not, none of us would ever notice that the other were not. We don’t say “Wow. It would be nice if Bob had ever existed.” We have no idea of Bob if he never existed.
We can say that for most everything. When we are with friends, let us consider that they might not have been as well. Each person in your life then that you know and celebrate is a blessing of God for you. There was a chance they would never have been and it’s important to take the time to consider that they are. It is a shame that we in the church don’t take the time to be amazed that things exist, including friends.
So to each of you I was with, I am thankful that you exist. One of the gifts I got at the conference was a wooden item that said “friends” and had barnyard animals on the top. Why did I get it? Because I believe it. Friends are important and I wanted a reminder everyday about the friends that I have in my life.
To my friends then, I salute you, and am thankful that you are not “might-have-beens.”
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