Who is your best friend?
This weekend, my wife and I were in a meeting with other parents of young teens who were preparing to go on a missions trip, later, in the summer. We broke out into groups, separate from our kids, to work on a project to get to know each other better. There were questions being read by one person in our group and the rest of us would provide the answers. After a series of questions and answers, the spokesperson for the group then read us a scenario of a teen going into her senior year in high school. Her family had to move from the place she grew up in all her life. All her close friends were now left behind and she had the unthinkable task of having to start all over in her last year of high school. To make matters worse, because of the downturn in the economy, she now had no future to look forward to. All her plans for college, and what she dreamed of becoming, were put on hold. Our task, as parents, was to try and point out all the different feelings she could, possibly, be going through. We decided that some of the usual ones might be a broken heart, she might be shedding tears of sadness, she may be carrying the burden of the loss of close, loyal friends, and many questions and fears as to what may lie ahead for her, after graduation, may be fighting for her undivided attention. Then a question was asked the parents, what fears they might have. Different ones expressed fears of raising their children in the economical climate of the day, others thought about when their child would begin dating, and then there were those who just sat and pondered on the different answers and how they might handle them. Finally, the question was brought up as to who we would consider to be our best friend. That brought a moment of silence and then one of the mothers spoke up and said her husband was her best friend. Others began agreeing that their spouse would be their best friend as well. Yet, as I sat and watched, the looks behind the answers, I just wasn't convinced we understood the responsibility of a best friend. I just wasn't sure that any one of us, in that group, could really be the best friend of their mate and do justice to it. Solomon writes in Proverbs 18:24, A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is one friend who sticks closer than a brother. All of us can be friendly, if we choose, but we can't be with each other all the time. There are times when we find ourselves alone with our thoughts. Maybe like this young lady who had to leave her closest friends behind while her parents were required to move to a different place. She might be going over questions like, how can I make this work? What can I do to make things better? Who can I turn to when I don't have all the answers myself and my friends aren't with me. What's really going on? Will things like this be happening all my life? I looked over at my wife wondering what she was thinking when we were asked who our best friend was. In my mind I was saying, my best friend is Father God. As we talked about it later, she acknowledged her answer was the same as mine. You see, we were the older parents of the group and we are raising our second family. We learned a lot with our first crew. We learned that even though we could provide some of the answers for questions or problems that can come with raising a family, we didn't have the ability to have all the answers. The world is too big and the enemy is too large to be able to fight all the things that can come against us in the natural. What about the times when sickness or disease or accidents come and you don't have all the answers. We thought about the different relationships our kids had and the ones that didn't work out. We didn't have the answers for those. Then there were the times when the economy was failing and it looked like we were going to get hit with it like everyone else, and didn't have a back up plan. Or the mistakes we made that put ourselves in a hole with no way out. Who do you go to if your best friend is in the hole with you? We've got parents who grew old, and we had to watch them go through the process of failing health, and finally had to put one in a nursing home because they were too hard to care for. Then at the very end watch them decline and then leave the very life they enjoyed so much. Who's got those answers as to why the end of their life was like that? Who's there to help you go through the emotional roller coaster that can come with it? Oh, I know friends are all around during the difficult times but who really helps calm the fears? Who helps to build your faith again so you can continue to press on into your destiny? Who's there to help you to make sense when there isn't any? There's only so much an earthly friend can do and it's great to have some. But it's really like Solomon wrote, there's a friend that sticks closer than a brother. In Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Solomon writes how two are better than one. Two will have a better reward for their labor. If one falls he has a companion to lift him up. If two lie together, they can keep each other warm. If one is being overpowered, two can withstand him. Then he adds, "And a threefold cord is not quickly/easily broken." A threefold cord is not quickly broken. Of course Solomon was referring to God as being that third cord. He was pointing out how important our relationship with God is and how we need Him as our best friend. Two can make a good team but can still be overpowered. When you add the third cord to it, and he's your heavenly Father, it's not quickly or easily broken. In the book of Ecclesiates, Solomon writes about man's folly and ultimately how much he needs God. He's been able to take a good long look at his life and realize the mistakes he made, even with all the wisdom he had. He had many friends, yet, none could help guide him through to a successful end to his life. He didn't have friends who dared to do whatever it takes, to keep him on the right road, to complete his destiny. He knew, in the end, how much he needed a close and personal relationship with God. In the end of his life, he didn't have one and it was too late. Everything broke apart. He wasn't practicing what he was preaching. His life literally ended in failure. It all boils down to the question, who's your best friend? Not only does your best friend help keep you on track and provide good answers, he also tells you the stuff you don't really want to hear. The things, like Solomon, you want to ignore, because if you ignore them you won't have to deal with them. Solomon writes in Proverbs that faithful are the wounds of a friend. The wounds of a friend are those things that need to be spoken, that no one else will say for fear of hurting your feelings. Yet, by not saying them to you, your destiny is compromised and weakened, just like Solomon, and you aren't able to achieve all you were destined for. A best friend helps you to die to your selfish nature. The destructive part of you that can get in the way of everything good. Your best friend will have the strength to lift you up when you've fallen and don't want to get back up. Your best friend will never leave you, never forsake you, no matter where you go or what you do. Your best friend will even take the rap for you if you do something wrong, and love you through it as though you've never done anything wrong. Who's your best friend? Can He tell you anything? Will you turn Him away or recieve what He has and determine, good or bad, it's ultimately for you own good. Will you trust Him, enough, to listen to all he says and then ask for Him to help you follow through and do all He says. Father God wants to be our best friend. He's gone to great lengths to prove it to us. He has so much to tell us, as well as all the answers we'll ever need, for whatever comes our way in this life. He wants to be your best friend.