As I begin to write today, my mind is being flooded with memories of friends who made time. In Mansfield, Pennsylvania, my friends gathered in backyards to play wiffle ball on most afternoons. Boys made noise, but we sure knew how to compete, play, and have fun together. My dad recruited two caring students, Ron and Manny, who mentored me through my early teen years. My mentors were the first people who listened to me.
When I moved to Minnesota during my high school years, I found my best friend. Sue made me chocolate chip cookies, listened, and treated me like I was different from all of the other guys in the world. We’ve walked and talked and journeyed together for forty-two years. Now I call Sue my favorite and my Proverbs 32 wife. She’s better than the hard-to-find Proverbs 31 women. She gives and loves from her God-shaped heart.
Church friends are great as you grow up together, as long as you stay in the same church forever. Each one has changed me as God shapes my heart. I’ll never forget the ones who stopped in their tracks to pray for me. God has used my Christ-like friends to help me and to show me that He’s there when everything falls apart. Like Kenny who crawled under my kitchen and unthawed my frozen pipes. Like Daryl and Dennis who re-did my ceiling that caved in. Like my father-in-law, Bob, who rewired my house and shared tools and treasures—like his daughter—with me. Like Dave who spent a day re-routing my water to end basement flooding whenever it poured. Like Tom who prayed over me when my church was burning down. Friends like these I’ll never forget.
Work friends who made time helped me to grow up and to get over myself. They gave me the gift of time and care and left me a piece of themselves. A word or a lesson, a prop or a prayer developed this man because of their time and their care. How deeply I miss each one with my heart; how I long for the talks and the walks and the prayers. For the ones who keep praying and journeying with me, I’m thankful beyond all words for these.
For my Spirit-Driven friends who spent ten years doing soccer ministry, the names and the faces and the memories are treasures. Bob and Larry and Ben and Sue—to name just of few—who gave of themselves completely from their hearts for Christ and for the sake of His Kingdom. I wonder how God uses friends who make time, because we can’t measure impact in this lifetime.
The authors and bosses and offenders, you’ll see, teach us lessons so profound that they turn us around. The people in hard places that I thought I was helping became God’s friends that He used for me to become more like Him. Neighbors are precious and I’ve loved them so dear. But the friends who stick with us forever are rare. They change us and blend us and bless us with time.
My dad is my friend and neighbor who shares his time and love and song. He’s shown me how to encourage God’s kids who become your friends. Then there are friends who stick close like brothers—who won’t go away no matter what happens. Matt and Steve and Dennis and Mark are a few who stop and make time, just when I need a friend. They say and do and share what I need, through good times and bad times and everything in between. My wife and my kids get my best and my worst, but they never stop caring and loving me. I hope that they see Jesus’ love in me.
True friends and time are gifts so rare. But my best gift and best friend is Jesus, who never stops giving, and He never stops living. He came and made His home in my heart. He speaks to me and lives through me and calls me His friend. He loves me and graces me and calls me away. The time we spend together never seems to be enough. Then He flips everything around and shows me that we’re always together and forever will be. What a friend we have in Jesus, I hope you will see.
True friends make time, and they don’t go away. When life shatters, they matter and show up and care. True friends make life taste so much better. Like Cindy’s black raspberry pie. Sue’s sourdough bread. Mom’s meatloaf. Sylvia’s dark chocolate. Katie’s peanut butter bars. Tim’s omelets. Nick’s orange julius. Zack’s bison burgers. Mark’s steakhouse.
I lost some dear friends along the way, but I’m making new friends who change my ways. Like my new friend Petr just did with me.
Through his time and his shirt and his story, God made everything clear. My friend, if you slow down and stop, you’ll have time to see and to be friends with Jesus and with those all around. They’ll connect you and change you from the inside out.
I give you, my friends, my time and my heart. I pray that our moments are spent and savored, as we pass on God’s truth that’s spoken and flavored. To the few who listen and turn from our ways, we’ll discover the difference that God makes each day. Let’s seize the moments at hand, making time and friends wherever we can.