Imaginary Friends

My oldest  son asked me this week if I had an imaginary friend.  I of course said yes! Then I said well the older I get the more I seem to talk to myself anyways. I think I scared him a little. But that's good parenting right there!

As I thought about the question he asked I began to recall many people that have crossed my path. Friends seem to change over a life time. Some just because you drift apart, your thinking changes, time restraints, there are many things that move friends around.

I've always thought there were three things that test all your friendships.
1. Get married. 2. Get divorced. 3. Get Jesus.
But as life moves, so do friends. Friends have been there through good times and bad. They've "caused" the good times and the bad. But they have not been imaginary.

I also developed (of course) a different view of what these people are in my life.

Whether Friend or Foe, they are instruments of God. You see in scripture God used non-believers, like Pharaoh, to advance the Gospel through adversity. God also used the death of a best friend and the sorrow of a family to show His power, when Lazarus was raised from the dead. The prophets of God generally didn't show up and just say how awesome people were. They told people where they could improve and where they were doing well.  Consider the new testament Paul where in Ephesians he commends them for their faith, but tells them no unwholesome talk would come from you.

I love my friends past, present, and future. I view them differently because God has placed them close to me. In nearly constant contact with some of them. Some I speak with only on-line, others I see occasionally, and yet some we are intentionally connected friends. God has given us time to see each other every week, to share our struggles and successes. To live life together, our church calls it a Life Group. It is my inner circle, which is a model that Jesus shows. God placed them there, not by accident, but with purpose.

All of you, everyone I would call friend, know you are an extension of God. You are being used to change my life. To those of you God will use through adversity, well your probably not reading this anyways.................but God loves you and I am able to love you through my trust in Him. There it is I'm a hippie, Love for everybody.