The Gift of Friends
The call came in, midnight Wednesday, the night we returned from Kentucky. Tim called from Alaska, telling us that he had to "put Bruno down," because of Bruno's increasing age-related disabilities. He was 13 years old.
Bruno, like Jasmine and Duchess, were his long-time friends, whom he had rescued from British dog pounds, when he was stationed in England, from '95 till '99.
"Dad? You still there?" Tim asked. "Yeah, I'm still here, son," choking back tears. Tim's doggie friends were ours, too. Besides Nikki and his sweet little daughter, his canine friends were the love of his life. We knew how much they had meant to Tim and Nik through the years. We felt their loss.
God had created us to be social beings. "It is not good that man should be alone," God proclaimed back at the beginning of time (Gen. 2:18). He took care of man's deepest need for companionship with His last miracle, man's special friend, his wife.
It seems that God added extra friends, to be sure that man and woman could avoid loneliness. God made the animals. Some people call them pets.
On a much higher level, people provide the most profound of friendships, because people can truly choose who their friends will be, and they can walk away from those who change and become harmful. Rare is the person who will stick by a friend going though some tough times and not walk away. Such a person is showing the unconditional, committed love of God! Treasure them!
It has been some unusually hard weeks for all of us, with the passing of Kathy Brittingham, Hazel Patteron, Mary Thompson, and Steve Phillips. These are people we had come to love. These were our friends. They were our companions. We stuck together.
All living things, including people, must die. Our friendships don't. Friendship, like love, therefore, is eternal.
Thank God, for His gifts of people! They are gifts wrapped in eternity!
Have a Happy New Year ... Anyway!
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