Friends!

I love good friends! You know the kind I'm talking about? They are unpretentious around you and they love you for you! You can be yourself around your friends and there's no need to impress. You don't have to! And good friends have your back. They know you so they can vouch for you and will take a bullet for you because they love you! Tonight, we were out with good friends. They know who they are. There was good conversation and laughter, funny moments and serious, thoughtful moments and the time to just be yourself. These friends are safe because everything we say stays there. There's no need to worry that something you said will be shared because friends don't share. And you're known and accepted for who you are and all that goes with that instead of known for what you do! When I'm in a conversation with someone I've just met, I try not to ask what they do until I've gotten to know them. And then, as the conversation dies down, I may ask what they do for a living just to keep the conversation going and to get to know them better! Sometimes I don't ask at all because I don't wont that to make me size them up financially or socially. You see, we are all more than the title we wear, whether it be pastor or manager or vice president of marketing or administrative assistant! The job is not who I am but something I do! With good friends, it doesn't matter what you do! You're accepted and loved for who you are, warts and all! May we all learn to accept each other and the friends and neighbors we love just for who they are, not for what they do or for what they can give! Jesus said to "love your neighbor as you love yourself!" That means fully, without reservation, through and through! It's at the heart of what it means to be Christian!