“Friendships don’t have to be proven in conversation.”
–Elmer Kelton
“They rode because of loyalty to one another…. They also rode because in each of them there was a sense of what was right and what was justice, although none of them would have admitted to it or would have known how to phrase it. They had never learned how to rationalize, and their world was a simple one where right and wrong were quite obvious.”
–Louis L’Amour
Last Saturday we had a fine time. We met up with some old, hmmm that’s not right, some friends of the past. One of them is getting married and the friends of the past were getting together. That’s the thing about friends. You may not have seen them for years, but when you do, if they were friends you just take up from where you left off. The Bill Gaither song comes to mind:
“Loving God, Loving each other,
Making music with my friends.”
Now, I have made some music with my friends though none of it was very melodious. It was the music of dust, grim, grit, and scraps of the ballfield. The sound of an axe making music in the camp. Then there is the music that comes from the sound of battle, When facing the onslaught of the enemy there is that music that rings with the sounds of the guns, whether it be actual battle or fighting in the spiritual realm. There is also that music of just sitting on the shores of a lake or the rushing waters of a high mountain stream. There is that music that can be heard only when there is silence and you know you can count of your friend being there by your side.
A friend is one who will face the music with you; stand by your side in the heat of battle. A friend is one who may not understand your pain, but will go through the pain with you. A friend is one who will take care of your home when you are not there to do so yourself, or not able. I understand that in one manner each of us has to travel this life alone, that is undeniable. Yet there are friends who will walk along side. Each person must stand before his Creator–alone; yet there were friends along the way that helped him when he fell down or was weary with the load.
Friends can be as close as family, and in some cases even closer. There is that Friend who is always there in the midst of gunfire that will never leave or forsake you. There is that Friend who walks along side each step that is taken, through each valley, each desolate place, and over the hills and mountains of life. Ah, “friendship with Jesus, fellowship divine.”
Ira Paine
“The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
–Proverbs 12:26 (NIV)