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.
So a little more about my life. I have been around Fire, Police, and Emergency Medicine most of my life. My Grandpa was employed by Civil Defense and later our local sheriffs department. My dad was a firemen in South Dakota and Louisiana. I myself am employed at our local airport where we are responsible for fire and rescue, along with operational duties of the airfield.
I have seen how amazingly tough the human body is and how fragile it is almost simultaneously. The most interesting thing is the mind. Or the will to live, memories, the ability to forget. The human mind is very interesting and different for everyone.
The reason I bring all this up is I had to attend some medical training over the past 4 weeks. One of the topics we have to address is stress and stress management for medical responders. There are things that I had swore I had forgotten until we brought up this topic. So I was wondering where my ability to forget had gone. I longed for that ability.
But God has designed us, each one a certain way. And our mind, as you know, is not like God's. Is 38:17 and Ps 103:12 both talk about removing our sins, putting them behind us or throwing them away. Their gone. Is 43:25 says God remembers your sins know more. God is not a human, he really can forget. Num 23:19
I was right out of EMT school, first on scene single vehicle rollover, one ejection, one walking wounded. Truck rolled several times down a fence row, apparently drunk driver ejected, sober passenger actually the one that lived. But i remember the feeling. It was a huge mess. I remember thinking "I should do something" Sheriff's deputy gets on scene I told him " I'm all by my self" I felt totally helpless. Medics right behind him, pronounced her dead on the scene.
That helpless feeling is also how I felt about some of the things I have done in my life. Knowing something is wrong inside and not knowing what to do. Or maybe we know but the scene is overwhelming. It's too catastrophic to handle on our own. But thankfully we don't have to go it alone. God will take on some of your burdens for you. He has made provision for us to give Him these things we can't handle. (although you can handle more than you think) He will take it on Him because He loves you. So whatever that one thing is that you are holding on to. I think it's time to even let that one go. Put it in God's hands.
My EMT instructor gave us a great tid-bit our very first night. "Were going to train you to do your best, teach you all we can. Sometimes you will do all you can do and it's still not enough". It's not up to us, give it to God.
Much, very much Love in Christ- David.
