A Good Friend

John 15:12 “This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.  This is the very best way to love.  Put your life on the line for your friends.”

Friends are wonderful to have.  They can’t be perfect and they will let you down at times, but having them around can be a huge blessing.  I have a woman who’s been my close friend for many years.  We’ve gone through our roughest and best times together.  One moment that will forever be engrained in my mind is the time she looked me in the eyes and said, “I’m not leaving your side.”  The night my house burnt down I was eating dinner with her and her husband at one of the nicer restaurants in our small town.  As we came out to the car I picked up my phone and found out the news.  I fell out of my car and onto my knees, throwing up.  My friend was instantly on her knees in front of me, holding my hair and talking to the person on my phone.  I got up and said I would take them home and she looked at me and said, “You’re not driving.  I’m not leaving your side.”  A short time later, she stood by me as I watched the charred remains of my house and everything I had ever known, continue to burn.  God gives us these wonderful people in our lives as an example of how much of a friend He wants to be for us.  Even when we push Him away, He stands by our side, willing to go through the best and worst times of life with us.  Don’t take your friends for granted.  Be a blessing to them as much as they are to you.  Stand by their side when things burn up in their life.  Be their example of the friendship Christ offers.

Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”