Friends

Today I was discussing with a client how important REAL FRIENDS are in times of hardship and crisis.  She has one such friend in her life, and we sadly agreed that many people don’t even have one friend with whom they can be truly open.  Let’s face it – alone is Hell.  God said in the very beginning, after making the first man, Adam, “It’s not good for man to be alone.” In the great wisdom book of Ecclesiastes, the author tells us to “pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up.” We need friends.  We need people we can trust to accept us and love us when we take off our masks and come out from behind our walls and get Real.  We need friends.

I talk to so many hurting people who feel so alone.  Sometimes their actual problems aren’t as bad as the pain of facing those problems alone.  Alone is Hell.  We need friends.  It is truly astonishing the amount of hope that stirs in a human spirit, simply by having someone enter into one’s most vulnerable space and state clearly (with or without words), “I’m here with you.”  What a gift to be wandering blindly through a terrible storm of life, and to realize a trusted friend has quietly joined you with an umbrella and a light and no words of condemnation!  Or the profound comfort in awaking in a hospital bed to realize the calm presence of the person beside you is not your doctor, but your friend.  Or the friend who loves you enough to sit quietly beside you because no words can heal your hurt, when all others have abandoned you because no words can heal your hurt.  And don’t forget the simple, yet fulfilling joy of talking and laughing and sharing things with a true friend in ways that would lead others to think you strange, while your friend truly enjoys these moments as uniquely you.

Take a minute to consider if you have been blessed to have one or more REAL FRIENDS.  If so, please let them know how much they mean to you.  You may assume they understand without it having to be said.  Say it anyway.  Can you imagine your life without that friend?  I would like to take a few moments to say thanks to my REAL FRIENDS.  As I pause and reflect, I realize God has given me more than most…

So much of my strength and wisdom and security and faith and joy and insight and hope and courage I owe to my friends here in Baton Rouge – Chemaine and Troy and Mark and Eddie P and Blaine and Dave and Eddie W and Glen and Ken and countless others I enjoy and appreciate in so many ways.  Thank you so much for sharing your lives with me, and for allowing me to share my life with you.  Thanks for all the cups of coffee and prayers and laughter and hope and tears and phone calls and emails and movie quotes and early mornings and late nights and words of encouragement.  In the spirit of the great song by Ray Boltz, Thank You.

And so many others have been there over the years – Joey and Jason B and Barry and Larry and Clint and Hal and Trevor and Weldon and Jeremy L and Jeremy D and Phillip and Kevin and Robert and Jason D and Michael and Jerry and Jeffrey and Bo and Richard and Scott B and Scott J and Jason E and many, many more.    Thank You for helping me become the man I am today.

My cup runneth over!  I see God every day in so many people who are there for me, loving me despite myself.  Life is good.

(I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone in this list.  Hopefully we are good enough friends for the oversight to be overlooked.) check domain name owner .