Best Friends

Trying to make a point with an illustration several years ago, I asked a student to come up front and break a pencil.

The student broke it without a problem.

Then I gave the student a bundle of 12 pencils wrapped in a rubber band and asked the student to break those.

That task proved impossible.

The concept is that on our own, we are breakable and easily moved.

But with others on our side - who have our back - we are less likely to be tossed and turned by the storms around us.

This illustration applies to countries; teams; and our friends.

While growing up, another boy just up the block from where I lived became my close friend about the time I would have been going into kindergarten.  

We did all kinds of things together -  built Lego towns; played radio disc jockeys; and rode our bikes hundreds of miles around town as we got older.  In high school we were cast together in "A Comedy of Errors."  

It's been years now since we've been in touch, but there is no doubt that we would pick things up like there was never an interruption.


In college I was blessed to have a couple very close friends - one, my college roommate, was even the Best Man at my wedding.  

A friend like that is someone you trust and with whom you feel safe to share everything.  They were the folks you could tease, but didn't let others pick on.  If circumstances called for it, you would fight with and for them.

In the scary world where young and preteen boys live - that is no small thing.

Post college, in the real world, close friends can be difficult to find.  They might be a sibling or a co-worker... someone you can share fears, dreams, and troubles with and they feel safe to share the same with you.

I never served in the military so I don't have a friendship born in those kind of circumstance - no doubt, those friendships based on common experience are among the strongest on earth.

Our close friends are a precious blessing - they help us celebrate the joys and weep with us during tough times - they have our back and we have theirs - and that helps each of us endure.

Thank God and your friend for the close friendships in your life.

Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.  

 Ecclesiastes 4 : 12