Friends

The first time I heard Friends, I cried like a baby. It was our last Sunday in our church in Richland, Washington. Andy had read his resignation three weeks prior to this and a friend got up and sang this song in our honor. Leaving this church was the second hardest thing I ever went through (first was the loss of our first child). We had very dear friends in this church, relationships were dear. When I went to my close friends to tell them Andy was resigning, I spent hours crying with them. It was such a difficult time. Then this guy gets up and sings this song:

Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile soil of you
Can't believe the hopes He's granted
Means a chapter in your life is through
But we'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

With the faith and love God's given
Springing from the hope we know
We will pray the joy you'll live in
Is the strength that now you show
But we'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

Songwriters
SMITH/SMITH

Published by
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group

What made the song extra sad for me was that even though the words sung promised that we would always live as friends, I had no idea if I'd ever see them again. After all, we were moving 3,000 miles away from them. 

As sad as it is to lose a friend, I'd have it no other way. Friends enrich our lives in so many ways. And different friends bring out different characteristics in us. As it happened, I did get to go back to Richland several times, once with Andy and twice by myself. The most recent trip was the year before Andy became ill. I spent 5 days with Jeanie and Helene. These two are such fun...we laugh a lot together. And we visit tea/coffee shops. And we taste test anything that's out on plates in those same shops. 

 Aren't they beautiful!

But God has his friends for me wherever we end up. When we began attending our church in 1987, God provided many more to my list of people who were special and important to me. One of those actually became my neighbor when we moved next door to her and her family. Who would know how important that relationship would become, especially as she welcomed her mom, struggling with dementia, into her home to care for her. Then two years ago, when Andy was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, we felt a deeper kinship as we shared our struggles together. How I depended on her prayers and encouragement as I went through deep waters.

Earlier this week, I received an email invitation from a friend to a Christmas brunch their community group was having on Saturday morning. I eagerly said yes and we joined 5 other couples for a delightful morning of fellowship, not to mention awesomely delicious food.

Without Marcia

Without Bob

How good of God to supply these kinds of relationships for our enjoyment and encouragement.

God created us for relationship. The Old Testament kings and prophets knew God considered Abraham as his friend. In 2 Chronicles 20:7, King Jehoshaphat mentions in his prayer that God drove out the inhabitants of the land to give it forever to the descendants of "Abraham your friend." And in Isaiah 41:8, God speaks through the prophet: "But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend..." 

He is the most amazing Friend of all. Jesus told his disciples in the Upper Room that he would no longer call them his servants. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends." 

Jesus is always with me...he never leaves me or forsakes me. He does not pack his bags and move 3,000 miles away! He always gives me just what I need for every circumstance and situation as I go through this life. His love is unconditional, too. It doesn't depend on my behavior or mood. That is amazing in itself. I think I'd be tempted to send me to my room till I can change my attitude! But the reality is that I can't change my attitude without his help. I need him every hour, every minute, every second. I live and move and have my being in him. (Acts 17:28)

I'm currently reading J.I. Packer's God Has Spoken. He beautifully writes about our relationship with God:

..."God's purpose in revelation is to make friends with us. It was to this end that He created us rational beings, bearing His image, able to think and hear and speak and love; He wanted there to be genuine personal affection and friendship, two-sided, between Himself and us -- a relation, not like that between a man and his dog, but like that of a father to his son, or a husband to his wife. Loving friendship between two persons has no ulterior motive; it is an end in itself. And this is God's end in revelation. He speaks to us simply to fulfill the purpose for which we were made; that is, to bring into being a relationship in which He is a friend to us, and we to Him, He finding His joy in giving us gifts and we finding ours in giving Him thanks." 
 

What a Friend we have in Jesus.