July 21

Real Friends


Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased…. It’s not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have after all stuck with me…. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does.

Philippians 1:3~8 (the Message)


“It’s all about relationship. What many of us are missing are real friends.” I was talking with Pastor John Lodwick about men’s ministry.

“I once heard a pastor say a real friend is one you can call with a problem at two or three in the morning.” The thought kept coming back to me, and I wondered. How many of us have that kind of friendship, love, trust, and loyalty? Very few, I think. As we talked, I thought about past ministry, past friendships.

Personally, I found those deeper friendships, as I consistently opened up with a few of my Christian brothers … praying with them each week, sharing my deepest needs as we encouraged each other in our Christian walk.

We wrestled in prayer with our jobs and marriages, our kids and all those misunderstandings, struggles with sin and temptation and the stress of living in an unbelieving world. It was like combat on a spiritual level.

The truth is I miss that. I miss them—those guys who dared to get close. I talked with one of these old friends last month, and it was like a breath of fresh air. I miss those relationships. I think it’s time to open up, time to make some friends. Real friends.


Father, come into our presence. Work in our lives. Help us to be real with one another. Help us to have friends, to be friends that count. Amen.