Old Friends

This was quite a week. After establishing contact on Facebook, four old friends managed to meet on a Zoom call. It had been over 50 years since we were all in the same room, but there we were … Dino the Dinosaur, Bullwinkle J. Moose, Hey Jude, and Kris. I don’t know how Kris managed to make it through those early years without a silly nickname but we will make sure she gets one!

We grew up in the small oil town of Taft, California in the foothills southwest of Bakersfield. Our friendships were forged at school and at church. As was typical in those days, each week we attended Sunday School, morning church, youth group, and evening church. We had plenty of time to develop strong friendships. Even now we can recall discussions about boyfriends, parents, siblings, homework, and a plethora of other topics.

To quote my friend Kris, “Yesterday I reconnected with 3 friends I hadn’t seen or talked to since junior high in Taft – well over 50 years! We talked over Zoom for an hour and a half and it was effortless and such fun to catch up. We may be changed in appearance and experience, but that deep bond that connected us through church and school still remains strong.”

How precious those friendships and shared memories are to each of us. Even now, I think back on shared experiences and laugh or cry at both the fun and tenderness of those times.

My life’s journey has taken me from the west coast, to the mid–west, to the east coast, back to the mid-west, back to the west coast, and now to Arizona. On most of those moves I did not know one single person in my new location. I remember walking into a new church for the first time, looking around, and wondering which of these strangers would become my friends. God was faithful and gave me good and Godly friends. I have new friends who have become old friends. I am grateful that He uses relationships to show His love to us. He is the friend who is closer than a brother, yet He puts others in our life to help us on our journey.

I’m lucky and blessed to have people who accept me, encourage me, hold me accountable, challenge me, comfort me, but most of all, simply love me with a God-given love.

John 15:12-13 tells us, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. “ (NIV)