A TRUE FRIEND STAYS CLOSER THAN A BROTHER …

by Dr. Randy Tompkins

I have a very close friend of over 50 years. We were both Ministers of Education in neighboring churches in Oklahoma. We both, unbeknownst to each other, attended a conference in Houston, Texas. During a free afternoon we wound up on the same elevator and became acquainted. During the rest of the week, we began to build our friendship.

We have some of the same interests. But at the same time, we both recognize that each of us has a talent or ability that the other one doesn’t have and so we compliment each other. We had contests between our two churches. When I moved to Mississippi to work on their state convention staff, he moved to Mississippi to be on a church staff.

Some time ago I received an email from him telling me that he was having to place his wife into a 24-hour care facility. We knew she was diagnosed with dementia. We didn’t know she had progressed to this stage. I immediately called my friend and we visited for several minutes. When I hung up I wasn’t sure who was fulfilling 2 Corinthians 1:4 – comfort one another.

As I have replayed that conversation, I again realized how gracious and kind our God is. He provides comfort in the most trying of times. He even provides comfort to those who are comforting someone else.

We have also seen some of the same actions in the past year: pandemic, hurricanes, floods and ice storms. Strangers become friends during a time of emergency. Most of these will not last, but some will and become the building block for Proverbs 18:24b –  “there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.”

Here is a challenge. Let us all try to build a family of friends that fulfills Proverbs 18:24b!