One year ago today was one of the weirdest, most awful days I can remember. April 15, 2009 has branded its mark on my life and the lives of about 900 other people. It changed us.
I think Job went through a time far worse than what I faced. As we saw in yesterday's passage, all of his children died, he lost his income and he broke out in very painful sores from head to toe. And to top it off, most of Job's friends were completely unhelpful. Take a look at what Job said here:
...you, my so-called friends, are no better—
there's nothing to you!
One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.
It's not as though I asked you for anything—
I didn't ask you for one red cent—
Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me.
So why all this dodging and shuffling?...
Are people mere things to you?
Are friends just items of profit and loss?
Ouch.
It would be easy for me to rant about the evil of these kinds of friends--the fair weather friends who are absent or even critical during hard times. But how many times have I not made a phone call, set up time for coffee or visited someone else in trouble...simply because it wasn't convenient for me?
Hard times are uncomfortable. And rather than face that discomfort with a friend, many people just avoid tough situations (and the people in them) altogether. Sometimes your friends don't even need you to say or buy anything--they just need you to be there.
Though I am far from a perfect friend, I am continually amazed and thankful for the incredible friends in my life. Tonight some of these incredible friends met to celebrate the end of a life-altering year--and the fact that we're still friends who not only survived, but grew stronger. Through our hard times, we laughed, called, prayed and encouraged one another. That's what friends do.
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