{"id":735,"date":"2021-05-21T08:59:04","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T12:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=735"},"modified":"2021-05-21T08:59:04","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T12:59:04","slug":"friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/21\/friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone; Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you. <\/em>

Those are the opening lines to the folk ballad Fire and Rain<\/em>, the 1970 song that established James Taylor as one of America\u2019s up-and-coming rock artists. 

His state of mind was precarious.  Struggling with depression and a downward spiral of dependence on alcohol and heroin, he had moved to London to jump-start his fledgling career.  While recording his first album overseas, the parents of his childhood friend Suzanne Schnerr committed her to a mental health facility.  Upon her release, she threw herself in front of a train. 

Taylor\u2019s friends, fearing for his emotional stability, waited six months to tell him the news.  He was rocked by the tragedy, since he himself had spent nine months at a similar facility.  Fire and Rain<\/em> became a means of expressing his anguish. 

I\u2019ve seen fire and I\u2019ve seen rain.  I\u2019ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end.  I\u2019ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.<\/em>

Taylor recruited another young songwriter to play the piano for the song\u2019s recording session.  Her name was Carole King.  Struck by the poignancy of the lyrics, she composed a song of her own.  It was a personal response to Taylor\u2019s admission of loneliness: You\u2019ve Got a Friend<\/em>. 

When you\u2019re down and troubled and you need a helping hand, and nothing, oh, nothing is going right.<\/em>
Close your eyes and think of me, and soon I will be there to brighten up even your darkest night.<\/em>

You just call out my name, and you know, wherever I am, I\u2019ll come running, oh yeah, baby, to see you again.<\/em>
Winter, spring, summer, or fall \u2013 all you\u2019ve got to do is call \u2013 and I\u2019ll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah, you\u2019ve got a friend.<\/em>

King\u2019s song mimics life.  It begins in a minor key, then shifts into major chords as it communicates the hopefulness of friendship.

What is the first thing in the Bible that God declares to be not good<\/em>?  God says, \u201cIt is not good for people to be alone.\u201d (Genesis 2:18)  None of us is wired to go through life flying solo.  To \u201cwin\u201d all by ourselves is to lose. 

Reflecting on the power of relying on other people, sociologists speak of two kinds of friendships.  There are Friends of the Road<\/strong> \u2013 those who walk with us for a season of life.  That might mean a friend from grade school; a pal at summer camp; a college roommate; a neighbor from your first apartment; or a colleague from your first job. 

Friends of the Road come into our lives for a time.  Then we go our separate ways. 

Friends of the Heart<\/strong>, on the other hand, never really leave \u2013 even when we\u2019re apart.  Even if we should be separated by many miles and many years, Friends of the Heart can seemingly pick up right where our last conversation left off.

So which kind of friend is better?

That\u2019s easy:  It\u2019s a tie<\/em>.  Sociologists agree that Friends of the Road and Friends of the Heart may be different, but both are priceless.  Any kind of friend in any circumstance is worth celebrating.

Which brings us to a third, stand-alone category: Friendship with God. 

Is such a thing even possible? <\/em>

Across the spectrum of the entire Old Testament, only two characters are described as being \u201cfriends of God.\u201d  One is Moses (Exodus 33:11).  The other is Abraham (Isaiah 41:8).  Since Moses and Abraham are arguably the two most important figures in the history of ancient Israel, it would seem to be off-the-charts presumptuous for anyone else to claim, \u201cYou know, God and I go way back.\u201d 

That\u2019s why Jesus\u2019 statement to the Twelve in John 15:15 is so stunning:  \u201cI\u2019m no longer calling you servants, because servants don\u2019t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I\u2019ve named you friends<\/em> because I\u2019ve let you in on everything I\u2019ve heard from the Father.\u201d

What words appropriately describe the dozen men who walked with Jesus for something like three years?

They were his apprentices, learners, or disciples \u2013 that is, students of his way of life.  They were also his apostles \u2013 the \u201csent-out ones\u201d charged with sharing his message with others.  From yet another perspective, they were his servants \u2013 an honorable word in that culture that described their loyalty to him as Master. 

But Jesus blows all those categories apart at the Last Supper. 

\u201cDon\u2019t ever think of yourselves again as mere underlings.  Or as contract workers.  We\u2019re friends<\/em>.  Since friends \u2018do life\u2019 together, stick close to me.  I want to hear your secrets, your disappointments, what you dream about, and whatever else is on your mind.  That\u2019s what friends are for.\u201d 

But what if you\u2019ve utterly failed to hold up your end of the bargain when it comes to walking with Jesus?  You\u2019ve been distracted.  Or bitter.  Or bored.  That would seem to preclude any possibility of friendship.

Jesus, however, hasn\u2019t thrown in the towel.

In Matthew 11:19, his enemies \u2013 as part of an ongoing attempt to savage his reputation \u2013 come up with what they think is the ultimate putdown.  They accuse Jesus of being \u201cthe friend of sinners.\u201d

Which is just about the best piece of news any of us could ever hear.  No matter where you fall on the spectrum of spiritual failure, Jesus is offering his hand.

Will you take it?<\/em>

In a world that can overwhelm us with fire and rain, we will never find a closer friend.
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Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone; Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you.  Those are the opening lines to the folk ballad Fire and Rain, the 1970 song that established James Taylor as one of America\u2019s up-and-coming rock artists.  His state of mind was precarious.  Struggling with depression and a downward spiral of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[156],"class_list":["post-735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-friendship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":737,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735\/revisions\/737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}