A TRUE Friend loves our warts and all!

I've been doing alot of thinking about friends.

Recently, I noticed that a few of my "friends" on facebook no longer want to be my friend. The reason I know that is because they deleted me from their friend list. My first reaction to seeing my name deleted was curiosity. I was curious as to why they deleted me ... did I offend them? Or did they not want to be my friend anymore? After a few moments of speculation about that, I then pondered on what level of friendship I even had with them. It couldn't have been a good level if they chose to delete me, I guess.

That is the problem with social media connections such as facebook or twitter. It is easy to friend people who are complete strangers to us and at the same time just as easy to cut out people who really aren't our friends, they are just acquaintances or acquaintances of acquaintances. Social media makes it easy to collect a long list of "so called" friends that we have never met before and have not even made a connection with. Face it, there is no real connection with some of these folks. Not like a real life friend. A friend that we have a face to face, heart to heart connection with.

I define a friend as someone I have connected with, one I can talk to about anything, a person that I spend time with and have similar interests with. A good friend will not only tell me about their life events, the good, the bad, and even the sad times but they will in turn listen to my good, bad and sad times. They will encourage me. They will believe in me. The will love me. And they will stand by my side, no matter what. When I fall, they pick me up. When I prosper, they rejoice. When I am sad, they cry with me. When I doubt, they pray with me.

These kind of friends are really hard to find. In my lifetime, friends have come and gone. There are two different kind of friendships that I have experienced. Those that are for lifetime and those that are seasonal. I have found that most friendships are seasonal. I don't know why that is, I guess because just like the weather, seasons come, they go and they always bring change. Change often times affect our relationships, including our friendships.

I have some friends that have come and gone in my life that I honestly can say I really miss. Relocation, divorce and even death has separated us. Even though these deep friendships are not what they use to be, I am so glad that I have one friend that no matter what the season I find myself in will always be near.

"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24

Jesus is faithful. He is kind. He is loving. He will never leave us. He accepts us the way we are...warts and all. His friendship is the kind that is everlasting. His love and affection is not dependent upon where we work, how much money we make, who we are married to, how beautiful we are or the kind of car that we drive. Our circumstances may change but His love never does.

He always has time for us. We will never get His answering machine or His personal secretary. We will never have to worry about not getting a call back or being deleted from His friend list. He is always on-call and waiting to hear from us. There is no sweeter friend than our friend Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus!

Oh how I wish more earthly friendships could be like this. There would be so much more joy, unity and love and a whole lot less sadness, loneliness and broken hearts. Having a long list of friends that you cannot personally touch is just a list, but seeing a friend thru the fire and rejoicing on the other side is being a true friend, one who loves the warts and all!

Next time you are tempted to "delete" someone from your friend list, think about the influence and difference you can make in their life. Jesus is my friend, and I am ever so thankful that He never hit the "delete" button on me.