In the words of Michael W. Smith, “Friends are friends forever, if the Lord’s the Lord of them.” (You’re welcome for that earworm. Go ahead, download it and enjoy it. You know you want to.)
Obviously, outside the Lord, my wife (aka, PR31) is my best friend on this planet. And yet the Lord has blessed me with some other great friends. Some of those friendships are only for a certain season of life, and then they shift over into a more casual acquaintance type friendship. But others are for a lifetime.
I’ve discovered that the bonds of deep friendship are forged in the fires of shared adventure and adversity. I want to share about one such friend in this post…
We have traveled to other states and other countries together. We have ridden in cars and vans and buses together. We have flown thousands of miles together.
We have spent time in private conversation and stood on platforms in front of hundreds together.
We have laughed together. We have vented. We have cried together. (Granted, I cried more than he did because I’m a crier and he’s not.). We have talked about our joys. We have talked about our frustrations and struggles.
We have made some extremely difficult decisions together. And we have struggled over the simplest choices of what to eat.
We have spent weeks together at a time. We have spent moments together. We have shared early mornings and late nights.
We have “snuck out” of the housing compound with a missionary in Central America to get my friend some chicken strips and French fries so that he didn’t have to survive on skittles and tootsie rolls. And we have “ridden our favorite ride” at Six Flags (Johnny Rockett’s restaurant) for more than six hours when it was just too hot to chase teenagers around the amusement park.
We even remained friends when I accidentally leaked his secret dating and probable engagement to the young lady who is now his wife during a late night snack with twenty other people.
What this is all adds up to is a deep bond of friendship which has been forged in the fires of shared adventure and adversity. Proverbs 17:17 tells us, “A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.”
That’s who he’s been to me… always loyal… a brother. I wouldn’t be half the man I am today without his friendship in my life. This friendship is for a lifetime.
And I am challenged today to be that kind of friend, not only to him, but to others also. So let me challenge you… If you have a friend like mine, let them know today how much you love and appreciate them. And why not join me in the quest to be that kind of friend to someone else? Your friendship could be exactly what that person needs!
allenchapin.com 
Your friend has loved every minute of our friendship and adventures. Love y’all and appreciate y’all.
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Makes my heart smile!
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