Friends & Camping...but mostly Friends...

I love how purposeful our God is about friendships. The word friend is mentioned about 90 times in the bible and it is not quite about what true friendship really means.

A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17

A friend is faithful even we they disagree. Proverbs 27:6

A friend feels our pain. Job 6:14

A friend lifts our heart and brings us encouragement and hope. Proverbs 27:9

A friend is always there. Proverbs 18:24

It is so difficult to walk on this side of Heaven. This world is such a cruel place and is only getting worse. Just tonight I read over a dozen news stories of child abductions, murders and rapes. Read countless blog posts of sick and dying children and families that are grieving a loss. And that is just one night.

I look at the hurts within my community...my family...my friends...myself...and cry out for the Father to take us home. And then I say, "thank you Lord for my loved ones."

For those that walk beside me in the daylight and the dark...


For those that I can depend on to love me through anything...


For those that we would have nothing else in common if it were not for the love we share for Him...


For those that make me laugh when I feel like giving up...


For those that are funny enough to post a picture of my husbands head on John Travolta's body...


For those that know I'm "shocked"...


For those that Oh, there goes a rabbit...


For those that brag on me and explain it...


For those that get it, those that get me...

because it's about building relationships. It's about being the friends that God intends us to be. It's about loving well, tearing down appearances and just being real.

And that's when it happens...that is when I can walk this world another day. Watching my children play ring around the roses in a pool the size of a bathtub with 7 other children. Sitting around a campfire, engaging in an activity that I would otherwise hate (camping of course) but laughing my tail off and so happy that I wouldn't take a million dollars to be anywhere else in the world because I have great friends surrounding me. Sitting around a table of four other Christian couples, playing cards and listening to the giggles of our children in the next room, knowing that they are safe and surrounded by followers of Christ.

That is the life!

Thank you Father for the many people you have placed along the way in my life. For their love and support but also for their council in times of need. Thank you for the gift of friendship and the responsibility that comes with it. Thank you for the little things that make it worth getting up in the morning. For good clean fun and for the ability to laugh until your side hurts. Even so, come quickly Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.