Thought for the Week-What a Friend...

Good Morning Girlfriends!

Can I just begin by telling you it's been one of the those weeks that I'm not quite sure what day this is?!  I thought by retiring from full-time church work that would provide me with the time I needed to finish my new book.  WRONG!  Last week I filled y'all in on the slight remodel job we've got working here at home.  That seems to be working fairly close to schedule...I mean, I'm not spitting fire just yet.  This week, I truly thought I'd have time to write.  Not so fast.... I teach a ladies Bible study on Tuesday mornings, and this week was our last class before we break for the summer.  I love our last day of class: we have food, some fellowship, a really long prayer (to send us off for the summer), but truth be told, I'm really going to miss my girls.  Well, we were mid-way through class when my phone began to buzz on the table in front of me.  I don't typically keep my phone handy during class, turns out, it was a good thing I had it.  My kids' school was calling to inform me that my youngest son, Elliott, had vaulted off the (highest) slide on the playground and BROKEN HIS ARM.  Needless to say, I bolted from class and headed straight to the other side of the campus. 

I ran into the nurse's office and found Elliott being cradled by the school secretary with Nurse Jan hovering close by.  My heart broke for him.  He looked so sad.  But he was being so brave, he walked to the truck, climbed in, and asked me, "Mom? Can you please put on What a Friend We Have in Jesus from your phone?  I would really like to listen that song right now." Oh.  Sitting there, I did the fastest search my iPhone had ever done, plugged it in, and pushed play.  I looked in my rearview mirror, Elliott had closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face, and was mouthing the words that Alan Jackson was so soothingly singing.  My mind began to circle...

What a Friend we have in Jesus.  Have you ever had a one-sided friendship?  Think back to high school.  We all had those superficial friendships, where one person was more attached than the other.  Well, our friendship with Jesus is not like that.  In high school, a less popular kid might try and hitch their wagon to a more popular kid in order to gain a better social standing or have more friends...but think about Jesus.  He IS the popular kid.  Yet, He chose to hitch His wagon to ours, and He did that at great personal cost.  Read with me Matthew 11:19, "The Son of Man... [is] a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners'..."  Jesus was a teacher...He was THE Teacher, yet He chose to associate on very personal levels with the bane of society: tax collectors, fishermen, {gasp} women and children.  The other religious leaders of the day would have never dirtied their hands to stoop to our level.  In fact, people went out of their way to make sure their kids could see Jesus or touch Him.  Jesus welcomed them, each and every one.  "[Jesus] said to them, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.'  And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them." Mark 10:14-16

When I put Elliott into my truck Tuesday morning, he knew there wasn't really anything that I could do for him.  He did know that there was One who could help him.  One who could offer hope and a peace.  Someone he calls a Friend.  I have been amazed at Elliott's faith over the course of the last few days.  He had to be brave for the x-rays, brave for the doctors, brave when they put on his cast.  But during some of those times, when fear was getting the better of him, he turned to the One who would never let him down.  With my earbuds in his ears, and Alan Jackson singing good old fashioned Gospel music, Elliott placed his trust--his faith in the only One who could actually do anything...his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Granted, his arm is still broken.  Broken so badly, that if he's not exceptionally still and careful over the next several weeks, we are looking at surgery and enough pins to set off the airport security sensors from fifty paces, but he's at peace.  What about you?  What's broken in your world today?  Have you met my Friend, Jesus?  I promise there's no one like Him in this world or the next.  Take His hand, and lay your brokenness in it, He will take it from you, and give you the strength and the peace to get you through.  Have a blessed weekend.

What A Friend We Have In Jesus
by: Joseph M. Scriven

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield thee;
thou wilt find a solace there.