AVAILABLE FRIENDS

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too?”

― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. – Philippians 2:2 (MSG)

This little passage was shared yesterday with my home congregation.  

And as soon as it was I thought of the quote from C.S.

Friendship.

Community.

“Each otherness”

They truly are the antidote to a lot of ills.

In recent weeks as I have traveled around and talked to churches, community groups, and professionals it has been a recurring theme.

The enemy is working overtime to separated us and isolate us.  We have traded “real relationships” and friendships for followers on TWITTER and our “likes” quotient.  Our authenticity with one another is usually shielded behind our manipulatable digital mediums and masks. 

And yet repeatedly the folks that I hang out with that have all the letters behind their names keep “discovering” that community and friendship, closeness, transparency, and authenticity “cures” a whole lot of ills. 

Addiction.

Depression.

Anxiety.

Loneliness.

All these maladies are reduced when community and friendship are introduced, explored, fueled and advanced.

Remember:

Good friends help you to find important things when you have lost them…your smile, your hope, and your courage.” - Zantamata

And while our Pastor was emphasizing the importance of friendship to our health as a “church” and THE CHURCH, he uncovered a couple of A plus ways to cultivating friendships and thus community.

One of which was that friends are AVAILABLE.

So, ask yourself, “Are you available for friendship?”

It is a most important first step to real friendship. 

Case in point.  

The evening was winding down last night when we got a message from a friend of my wife whose son is incarcerated.

Her son was having a tough night.  She like any mom was concerned.  She reached out to her friend Beth. 

Why? Beth has made herself AVAILABLE to her. 

Beth then turned to me for some help and I called my “available” friends Chaplain Willie and Chaplain Mary and within 15 minutes, our friends had helped Beth’s friend and her son.

Willie and Mary were AVAILABLE and by the way they are a couple of my deep spirited friends who I walk in agreement with almost weekly.  

I think you are following me and Pastor Mark by, now right?

How can you make yourself available today as a FRIEND?

Brault once remarked:

“I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.”

Will you be an available friend for someone today?

I love you all!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE