Friends

An area i am well rich in is friends.

That might seem trite or bumper stickery or Oprah-informed or something, but it’s not. It is an absolute truth.

If there is an area that i feel most privileged in in life it is in the area of Friendship. i struggle to get my head around it.

i read a quote on the internet that said:

Good friends talk about their sex lives.

Best friends talk about poop.

i don’t know if that’s entirely true, well not of my friendships anyways, although ‘Crack Filler’ has been a product that has brought considerable mirth [Thanks Mark Baker!]

But it made me smile out loud #SOL

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE…

Earlier today i was cleaning out a drawer to get us ready for the big move [you know the one where we leave this house and go to… um somewhere else…] and i came upon a stack [and i do mean a STACK] of letters and cards and notes that tbV helped put together when we were leaving the Vineyard church in Stellenbosch and heading overseas.

i read letter after letter just absolutely beaming or near-crying or laughing out loud or laughing in loud and just being totally blown away by the love flowing off of those pages and more importantly by the absolute quality of people that were brought before my eyes name after name… how do i get to be friends with all these people? Surely there’s been some mistake.

When i got to the letter from my mate Rob [who died in December from the cancer beast] i just broke. As i am now again. Friends like him cannot be replaced.

So yes, SO MUCH GOODNESS, but also a gap, a hole… but it’s been amazing to watch how God has brought a number of people into my life this year that are walking alongside me in different ways like Rob used to [that’s right, it takes a whole team to come close to filling in some of those gaps]

i miss you buddy.

THE ECONOMY OF HEAVEN

i’m absolutely convinced that the economy of heaven is people. There are passages in the Bible talking about how gold and things will be burnt to a crisp and count for nothing [so why do so many insist on chasing them?] and Jesus even in one place told His followers to use money to gain friends… that’s insane. Or maybe an accurate understanding of how valuable friendship is.

Only what we do in life that affects people is really worth anything. Everything else is just fluff.

And today i just want to be OUT LOUDLY GRATEFUL for the too many to mention people in life who i call friend [especially those who would call me it back]

Some of my favourite people in life are far. far away and whenever i see them we just step back into a friendship that feels as fresh as anything. Those are the best types.

There IS a secret to friendship i’ve found over the years, which i imagine should be worth a million bucks or something, but i doubt anyone would actually ever give me that, unless they knew what it was worth [which they couldn’t unless they had the kind of friends that make it worth it but if they did then they wouldn’t need them, right?] and it is worth A LOT!

And it’s really just to be a friend. To love people. To be there. To listen and really care about them. How simple is all that?

i remember when i was younger seeing certain people i wanted to be friends with and they were usually the ‘cool people’ and i wasn’t and so it was quite a jump to get in there and be friends with them and probably one bigger than i was capable of back then. So i just started being friends with those who were left. Those who were around. Those who were interested in me. Those who stood at the back of the lines.

Another secret was becoming a youth leader i guess. i don’t think i was a particularly good youth leader ever. But i loved people [the extent of love i have for people i completely believe God gave me cos it doesn’t make human sense so much] and so instead of ‘youth’ i had friends. [Well some of them, even some of the youth were ‘too cool’ to be friends with me, so i focused on who was left and who was around and wanted to hang out. And once i stopped working with youth i still had a bunch of really good friends who were all ten to fifteen years younger than me. That’s one guaranteed way to remain young.

That’s all, i didn’t want this to become a huge thing. Today was just a day of absolute encouragement and being reminded of so many quality people who have been in and around my life and continue to be good friends in so many different ways. Thank you.

Man, physical paper letters are so powerful. If you want to make someone cry or Smile Out Loud then pick up a piece of paper and write someone a letter today. Who is someone who infleunced you growing up? Mentor, teacher, parent, relative, youth leader. Drop them a note, big or small. Tell them. That kind of thing is so huge. But in the absence of deforestationary tactics, take a few minutes to compose an email, send a text, wats and app. Tell someone how much you care about them. That stuff is huge. Go!