Friendship is a Precious Thing

Friendship is a precious thing. I've always known that, but God used some "old" friends to give us great encouragement today.

This morning, Jim and I were walking down the stairs after Sunday School, and he said, "Moose...someone over there is waving at you." I looked, and there were two friends from our early married days. They weren't there to see us...they are friends of our new pastor and his wife, and they just came to see them.

Even so, just seeing those familiar faces in our church...it was encouraging...and comforting.

They ended up sitting beside us in church, and it just made things feel more like HOME.

Speaking of home, tonight, Jim, Joshua and I drove over to the town our kids call home. It's where we lived for 15 years...where we put down roots and raised our family. The music minister at our former church was retiring, and we wanted to come to his reception.

We got to see so many of our old friends. Joshua was in ALL his glory...and everyone was thrilled to see him.

During the time we were at that church, there were hard days...in our family. We had tough days with Joshua...just trying to figure out his place in school. We had tough days with Clark...when he was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 2. The whole town really rallied around our family, but our church seriously held us up. For MONTHS.

There were also some hard days in the church...a split, a reconciliation, harsh words, forgiveness.

Tonight when we walked in...all we felt was love.

And it washed over us like rain.

And it was good.

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up." 1 Thessalonians 5:11