Friends

Pat and I recently attended our alma mater’s homecoming and anniversary event. As we reinforced friendships with worship services and playful fellowship for several days, one classmate mentioned that we first met 50 years ago as teenage freshmen. Each wondered, "How did the time pass so quickly?"

Since we returned home, I have been wondering, "How have we maintained friendships when we see each other so infrequently?" We meet a few of our friends at biennial church conventions. Others live near family and we enjoy the luxury sharing an occasional cup of coffee. None live within 100 miles.

Since returning home I have been stirred by the J. Wilbur Chapman song, "Our Great Savior." (I am fond of Chapman because of his association with Philadelphia.) The first verse and refrain say:
Jesus! What a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end. The Book of Proverbs says, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." (18:24) I believe God makes enduring friendships possible as reminders that He is the One who never fails in His role, no matter how often we may falter in keeping our part of the relationship alive and well.

Chapman included foes in his poem and we may have had a few. I simply cannot remember them. What I find most remarkable is that Pat and I have been blessed with friends who have not failed. Their names are ordinary: Bob, Judy, Carley, Barbara, Jim, Rick, Abe, Patty, Nilli and James. Other friends are younger than our children: David and Laura, Edwin and Liz, Johnnie and Jennie. Life is richer, sweeter, happier because God gave us extraordinary friends with some rather ordinary names.