Jesus as a friend
Our family is on the tail end of a long vacation visiting national parks and spending quality time with family we don't see all that often. And as is becoming tradition, making our way back west we stop to see some of our greatest friends. Forged in the throws of ministry in Washington State and surviving through long distance moves, these are gospel friendships worth more than gold. It is a refreshing time to connect and keep up with each other. What we do though is pull our 27 foot RV into their driveway and invade for a couple of days. We plug into their electricity. We eat their foot and drink their wine. We make ourselves at home. And when they visit San Diego next year they will do the same sans the RV. There is no pretense, no performance, no perfection required. It's just us and the acceptance of those fluent in the gospel. We all need these types of friends. Not merely because having friends is good and healthy but because they are imaging Christ and we need the remind