| |
September 18th 2009
I read an article some time ago about Pepper Rodgers. He used to be the football coach at UCLA. One season had been particularly bad for him, so much that it even upset his home life. He wrote, “My dog was my only friend. I told my wife that a man needs at least two friends—so she bought me another dog!”
Better than that is a story which comes out of the trenches of the last World War. A soldier asked his commanding officer for permission to leave the safety of their fox hole and run out to no man’s land between the enemy’s and their trenches. One of his comrades had been seriously wounded by enemy fire.
“You may go”, the offer answered, “but it’ll not be worth it. Your friend is probably dead already and you’ll be throwing your own life away in the process of bringing his body back.”
He did what he planned despite his officer’s counsel, managed to get to his friend, hoisted him on his shoulders and brought him back to safe ground.
Looking at him with pity, the officer said, “I told you it would be a dangerous waste of time. Look, your friend is already dead and you have been mortally wounded!”
“It was worth it though, sir!”
“What do you mean, it was worth it? I told you, he’s dead!”
“Yes sir, but it was worth it because I got to him when he was still alive and he said to me, ‘Jim, I knew you’d come!’ ”
To me, that story underlines the meaning and value of friendship.
There’s a wonderful line in the Old Testament that has always intrigued me. Solomon, the author of most of the Proverbs, was recording the names of several of his most trusted leaders. Although he had some five thousand personal employees, in addition to an army and work force of hundreds of thousands. He listed only a few names. There was the High Priest, his Secretaries of State, the court recorder and his five star General, but lastly he listed the name of Zabud. He wrote that the function Zabud served was the “king’s friend”.
Friendship is a vital, biblically emphasized part of healthy life. We were created for the purpose of love, and love can only be practiced in close intimate relationships. It’s relatively easy to love people whom we don’t have to spend time with. Love’s true power can only be tested in the furnace of intimacy. When we allow somebody past our outer defenses and facades, and they really get to know how we think, feel and act in private, the real strength of our love is revealed.
- Barry Buzza
|
