The price of friendship

If you want to know something about me without asking any questions, study my friends. The people with whom I choose to spend my free time, with whom I eat and laugh and cry--those people are the mirrors of my soul. It's true: you really can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps...

Now, if you choose friends the way I choose friends, there is no pattern or logic to it. I have friends who are extremely wealthy, and friends who are desperately short on cash. I have friends who do not vote for the political candidates I prefer, and friends who can finish my sentences if I pause to take a breath.

Friendships are made, not born

We are all born into a family, but we grow into friendships. Members of your family may be your best friends. But if they are, I suspect it's more a matter of spirit than of blood.

Sometimes we lose touch with friends. We move away. We change jobs. Our lives take unexpected turns. Yet there is one friendship upon which every one of us may depend. It is a friendship available to all who will call upon the name of the Ultimate Friend.

The Ultimate Friend

That friendship is with Jesus, and the formula for that relationship is described in warm words in John 15:12-17. It's a friendship based on the greatest love of all. If you haven't experienced it - and you should trust me on this, my friend--you don't know what you're missing.