“We Will Always Be Friends”

The above quote was attributed to St. John Bosco. He directed it to a young man (St. Luigi Orione) who later entered the priesthood after his death. Friendship is such a powerful term, describing a relationship that is at the top of the list. We may have other wonderful relationships with our peers, co-workers, teammates, allies, but true friendship is at the top. 

Even Jesus waited until the “Last Supper” to tell his apostles that I no longer call you servants, I call you friends. (John 15;15). It’s a relationship where everything he’s learned from his father, he’s revealing to his disciples, now friends. Think about that. So much he shared with his disciples is recorded, but think of all the things he shared that didn’t make it to the pages of scripture. It’s true we don’t reveal our self to just anyone; even close acquaintances don’t know everything. But true friends are different.  “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”(John 15:15) 

I watched a clip from the funeral of President George Herbert Walker Bush (Bush 41) where former Senator Alan Simpson, a friend for some 56 years, gave the eulogy. It’s worth watching. In addition to a number of touching parts, it was sprinkled with humor. Simpson said he cried when he wrote the eulogy, so he wouldn’t cry when he gave it. He called it a “distillation of what he meant to me down inside.” It included a number of stories and anecdotes: 

• “I recall an invitation to Camp David when his popularity rating was 93% and mine was 0.93%. As we headed to Marine One, George said, “Al, now wave to your pals over there in the media. Later I said George, I am not unmindful as to what you are doing, propping up your old wounded duck pal. While you’re at the top of your game, you reach out to me while I’m tangled in rich controversy and taking my lumps. And he said, “Yep….. there were staff who told me not to do this, but, Al, this is about friendship and loyalty.”
• He never lost his sense of humor. Humor is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life. That’s what humor is. He never hated anyone. He knew what his mother and my mother always knew: hatred corrodes the container it’s carried in. 
• The most decent and honorable person I ever met was my friend, George Bush. One of nature’s noblemen. His epitaph, perhaps just a single letter, the letter “L” for loyalty. It coursed through his blood. Loyalty to his country, loyalty to his family, loyalty to his friends, loyalty to the institutions of government and always, always, always a friend to his friends.

So much to say about friendship. Yet words can only go so far in describing it. To really begin to understand it, you need to experience yourself slipping over the edge of the cliff and the hand of your friend grabbing you and saying, “where do you think you’re going?” 

Where would we be without our friends? Whether we have many or just one….where would we be? I’ll tell you this, “I wouldn’t be or “I’d simply be in big trouble.” So let’s thank God for our friends, especially our best friend, the Lord Jesus. Thank you Jesus for being my friend, for standing with me in all my times of trouble. And thank you for Judy and our family and my other wonderful friends. We are so blessed. Ah, friendship…. that is very good news.