Friends

There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. -- Proverbs 18:24 NLT

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. -- Philippians 2:3-4 NLT

I want to preface this writing by letting you all know that I am a big proponent of technology. I believe that it's power is in how small the world becomes with it's use. I have been able to talk to long, lost friends I never thought I'd talk to again because of it. There are those who are half a world away from each other and yet they can look each other in the eye and have a conversation. Medical advances are staggering in their significance and effectiveness. It is truly amazing!

But I think it's also served to make some of us less sociable. It's served to lock us into our homes where we don't get out quite as much and greet people in person. Perhaps we don't always form the close, personal relationships we once did. For example, I polled my daughter today regarding her social life. She has over 400 "friends" on her list in Facebook. When I asked her how many of those 400, counting family members, that she would consider to be true friends her answer was maybe 20. Her boyfriend is someone she's never met in person. She met him via friends on Xbox Live. They talk every day and they've seen pictures of each other, but never met face to face (and as a Dad, I think I'm OK with that!).

We have at the same time become both more social on a global scale and less social on a personal scale. I would imagine a big percentage of you have a large number of people you might call friends but are really just acquaintances. But do you have people around you that you trust to be honest with you...even brutally honest when it's called for? Do you have people in your life for whom you would do anything that you know would also do the same for you?

I count myself blessed to be surrounded by men and women of God that I know I can count on and who know they can count on me. It hasn't always been that way. I don't make friends easily and I don't fully trust people easily either. Maybe that's a good thing...I don't know.

But I know that having true friends who will "stick closer than a brother" is wonderful. If you don't feel that you have that I urge you to seek it out and, when you find it, protect it with the Holy Spirit. Nurture it through prayer. Build on it continually and keep it for life.