Friendship?

What does it mean to be a friend?

Webster's Dictionary defines a friend as, "one attached to another by affection or esteem" and "a favored companion".

But I think it goes way beyond that....

How would you define a "friend"?  What is the difference between a "friend" and a "true friend"?  Why is it we now have to distinguish between a "friend" and a "true friend"?

Would you agree that a "true friend" is hard to come by?  I think so....  Experience has taught you and I that.

As I am thinking of "true friendship" and how we should relate that Biblically, because that is our standard, there are a set of friends that comes to mind:  Jonathon and David.

Three things that I believe Biblically we should be as a "true friend":

1. A true friend will warn you of impending danger. In 1 Samuel 19:2, Jonathon runs to tell David to tell him that his father (Saul) is trying to kill him.  As a "true friend" we should always be warning of impending danger, if you know its coming, if you know someone is intentionally trying to harm them, let them know.
2. A true friend will take up for you.  In 1 Samuel 19:4, Jonathon goes to his father and King (Saul), and pretty much calls him to the carpet and reminds him that David is a good guy and has done nothing wrong.  As a "true friend" we should take up for our friends.  It sickens me when someone who calls us as friend will be the first one's to throw us "under the bus" so to speak.  Regardless of what people think, say, or do; we should never under any circumstances not take up for a friend.  Its just wrong.
3. A true friend will always watch out for you.  In 1 Samuel 19:7, Jonathon would tell everything he found out that Saul (his father) was planning to do, hence Jonathon was always keeping a watchful eye out for his friend David.  As a "true friend" we should be watching the "backs" of a friend.  Jonathon went against his own father to look out for his friend.  Why?  because it was the right thing to do.

As a "true friend" you will not ALWAYS see eye to eye, however as a "true friend" you can look past the differences.  Life experience has showed me over the past 20+ years about what it is to really be a friend.  I have had many very hard trying times in life, through those trying times I have learned to tell the difference between a "true friend" and a "friend". 

A "true friend" can speak frankly and clearly, will tell you the truth (and do it with compassion and love).  We may not always like what we hear when they tell us, but done with the right attitude and tone it can be recieved well, and with no hard feelings.  You respect a "true friend" and you value their input.

Do you know what it is to make valuable true lasting friendships?  Do you know what it takes?  Do we even know how?  Do we even want to?  How important is it?  Why is it important?

Everyone needs someone.  Jesus had the three:  Peter, James, John.  These guys where the ones Jesus would pull to the side, these are the ones that Jesus spent "a little extra time with", and these are the ones that got to see some really cool stuff that no one else did {the transfiguration (Luke 9:28-35), raising of Jarius' daughter from the dead(Mark 5:21-43)}.  So if Jesus had an inner circle of "true friends", then I would venture to say we need them too.

I am thankful to have developed a few "true friends", you know who you are.  I am so thankful for you.  I am thankful that I can talk to you about anything, anywhere, and anytime.  It is a true comfort.  I value my friendships and cherish them.  They are what makes this life, here and now, easier to deal with.  Friends that have been there through divorce, the loss of a child, journey through college, supportive of my calling to ministry, birth of my girls, death of my grammy, personal conflicts, suicide of a friend.... through it all I have had my "true friends".  Some of them have been there through this whole journey, some half, and some have just joined my inner circle, regardless I love you all.  I hope I am as good as a friend to you as you are to me.

ps. mileage/distance doesn't change the status of a "true friend" if you find one, hold on to them.


Chris.



Feel free to comment on what your thoughts/definition of a "true friend" is, would love to hear it....



Follow

"Follow me," Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.  (Luke 5:27b-28)

Social networking just astounds me now.  You can literally follow someone from your computer or your phone and thanks to twitter, facebook, and foursquare you can track, no you can pinpoint every move they make.  Have a favorite athlete follow him on twitter, favorite movie star yep them too, want to know that POTUS is doing, you got it @whitehouse, how about favorite author, more than likely.  We live in an information overload age.

Through technology I can now post on one site and it automatically updates my twitter, facebook, and myspace.  Unbelievable.  "Follow me", if someone wanted to "follow me" on twitter all they have to do is click one button and bam, they know my thoughts, they have link to my blog, they can know when i exercise, how much i exercise, when I'm at work, where I eat, get tidbits of silly things my kids say, find out final scores on games, get encouraging little sayings i find periodically on Internet, I may post a verse of scripture, and may even post pictures sometimes.  Wow, you can get all this and more by just going to a website (twitter) finding @revclreese and click "follow me".  You don't really have to know me but you can follow me.

I think this is what we think about when Jesus says, "Follow me".....

It's not true.  Jesus doesn't want you and I to follow at a distance, Jesus doesn't want you and I to just casually know Him.  He wants you and I to personally know Him, and "Follow HIM".  Levi (Matthew) understood this greatness of who Jesus was.  So much so that when Jesus walked up to him and simply said "Follow Me", Matthew left everything and followed Him.  Everything.  Think about that, everything.  He left everything.....EVERYTHING.

So what is it that you need to leave to "follow Him"?  What is your "everything"?  What is it in your life that is hindering you from "following Him"?

After Matthew dropped everything and followed Him, life wasn't easy.  Following Jesus is hard, because Jesus will challenge your thoughts on love, ethics, and character.  Matthew was challenged, but he also saw some unbelievable things in His life.  He saw the blind get sight, the crippled get up and walk, the sick get better, and He saw a dead guy get up and walk.  However, he also was made fun of, lived a financially poor life, wandered around like a nomad for years, watched His teacher (Jesus) be brutally beaten and crucified, and then like many of his fellow disciples was more than likely martyred for his faith.  If you asked Levi (Matthew) today if responding to Jesus' "Follow Me" was the best decision he ever made, Levi would tell you without hesitation, yes it was. 

How do i know that?  On November 30, 1997 Jesus said to me "Follow Me", I did and it is the best decision I ever made.

"Follow me" Said Jesus.

Have a great day, Chris

love, nothing more and nothing less

My greatest struggle that I have had since being in ministry has always been this issue, Love.  Oh, not love your spouse, or your boyfriend girlfriend love, not loving parents love, or loving friends love, it's loving each other love.  Loving those who, well, your not even sure if they like you. 

"This is what I command you:  love one another" (John 15:17).

It bothers me if someone doesn't like me, I know it shouldn't matter, but regardless it bothers me. 

I don't claim to have it down (loving each other) yet.  Quite frankly i don't know that I ever will.

but,

Can you imagine your next family reunion, if we loved one another....
Can you imagine your next Christmas or holiday, if we loved one another.....
Can you imagine your next day of school, next day of work, next social event, next visit to the store, next visit to walmart, next visit to the bank, if we loved one another......

How about can you imagine your next worship opportunity at your church, if we loved one another...

What's Jesus talking about, with this "loving one another".  You ready?

Here is what I believe Jesus is saying:

• Look at people from His perspective, every single person according to Him was worth dying for.  Humbling thought isn't it.  That person you and I don't like, Jesus thought they where worth dying for.
• Look at love from His perspective.  Jesus' love is unconditional.  He loves you no matter what.  He loves you even if you don't love or even like Him.  It doesn't change that He loves you.  He loves you as much now as He ever has.  Could you imagine loving people that way.
• You cant love one another, until you learn to love Jesus.  You cannot look at people from His perspective or look at love from His perspective unless you learn to love Jesus.  It's impossible to "love one another" until you Love Jesus.

So what does it matter, why should it matter, why should I love? Jesus summed it up when He said:

"By this all people will know that your are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35, HCSB)

It matters because It's how people know Jesus is for real, and that His people are for real.  Wouldn't it be awful for someone to walk away from the church, walk away from you, or walk away from me thinking they wheren't loved by God and His people. 

Yes it's hard and I'm slowly but surely getting there.

Jesus commands us to love one another.  Love, nothing more and nothing less.

Chris.

right or wrong?

"All the ways of a man seem right to him, but the Lord evaluates the motives.  Doing what is righteous and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."  (Proverbs 21:2-3, HCSB)

There have been a lot of times in life as i look back that i would have changed the decisions i made.  Some where harmful to others, some where harmful to myself, and some where just honestly some bonehead moves where I find myself saying, "what where you thinking??"

So what do we do to try and lower the number of times that we do make a wrong decision.  It's inevitable that in the pursuit of trying to make right decisions, that we will make the wrong one.

one of the best ways to know for sure, is check your motive.  Why are you doing it?  Who are you doing it for?  What are you hoping to get out of it?  I know myself well enough that if it "seems" right to me, then I better ask someone else.  I can lead myself astray a lot.  I am my own worst enemy a lot.

Another way is asking yourself if my decision goes bad, how many people will it affect?  Will it harm them?  How much harm does it have the potential to do?

Doing the right thing is not always easy, making the right decision is for sure not easy.  But I like what the proverb says, "Doing what is righteous (or right) and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice";  our strive should be to try to make Jesus happy with our decisions.

A couple other pointers to making the best decisions are:  talk to some trusted Christian friends/leaders, examine scripture and see what God says about it, and of course spend some quality time with God in prayer.

That's all for today, have a great one!!

Chris

This needs to be said....

"Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them" (Luke 15:1-2, NIV)

Sounds awful doesn't it.  Jesus being criticized for reaching those who really needed Him.  Jesus having the audacity to hang out with tax collectors and sinners (oh the horror).  These are the people that the pharisees and "church" people didn't want around.  They didn't want to talk to them, they didn't want to know them, they didn't want to see them, and they sure didn't want them in their "church" (temple). 

Thank goodness this only happened Jesus times, we have grown as Christians beyond that.  I wish.  No this kind of attitude is still running rapid in today's Christianity.  Just as it was hindering Jesus ministry, it is seriously hindering the church of today.

How in the world to we get the attitude that there some that are "worthy" to be in a church group and some that are not.  How in the world do we get the attitude that there are some that are "worthy" to be around Jesus and some are not.  How in the world did we ever get the attitude that some are "worthy" to be around US and some are not.

Now of course Jesus followed this attitude by teaching about the "Lost sheep" (leaving 99 to get the one), "the lost coin" (diligently looking for money that has been lost), and of course the "prodigal son" (the son that takes his inheritance, squanders it then comes back home).  IN all stories the end was rejoicing because the sheep was found, the coin was found, and the son comes back.  Wow, Jesus is such a great teacher.  Unfortunately the Pharisees or the "church people" just didn't get it.  There where so full of "self-righteousness", or we will call it the "I'm better than you" attitude.

This same "better than you" attitude is running rapid in our churches today. 

The "sinners", the troubled ones, the addicted ones, the promiscuous ones, the hurting ones, the confused ones, the different ones, the ones from broken homes, the ones from abused homes, the ones from single parent homes, the ones who don't dress like you think they should, the ones who don't talk like you think they should, the ones who don't act like you thing they should, the ones from different nationality, the ones from the projects as well as the ones from great backgrounds, the ones with both parents in the home, the ones who grew up in church, the ones who don't have issues.  They all need to be in church, they all need Jesus, we all need Jesus.

Jesus welcomed them all, He turned away no one..... think about it.

Said with love because I care, Chris

what's your dream?

"Your Old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions" (Joel 2:28)

When you dream what do you dream of?  Do you dream?  Do you Day-Dream?  How do you see yourself in 10,15,20 years? 

I'm not talking about that dream you keep having about the pink elephant that drives the yellow car through downtown while your trying to get to school and its raining and your running but cant catch the airplane that has the door open with a stewardess waving for you to get on board, and then you get on board and your ticket is blank.....  That dream means nothing.... lol.

I'm talking about what is your goal, what is your dream job, career, what you would love to do the most??

We don't dream anymore, we don't set goals....

we just "do" life.  I think God wants more than that for you and me.  I think too many people fall short of their potential, their plan or purpose that God wanted them to have because we fail to "dream big".

So what is it?  What do you dream?

Take a few moments and dream, I mean dream big. 

If you don't dream if you don't aim for something you will achieve nothing, which is exactly what your dreaming.  So go for it, dream.  You never know what is out there until you do.  Don't be satisfied with just going through the motions, there could be more out there for you.  GO FOR IT!!!

I'm dreaming big, and wanting God to fulfill it.  Will you join me?

Chris

Life moves pretty fast.... wisdom from Ferris

I'm pulling from two moves here, "Ferris Beuller's Day off" but also "Click".  You ever feel like life is just buzzing by.  It moves so fast.  One minute your in Elementary School, then it's middle school, fast forward and your in High School, you graduate, your off to college, you graduate, you get married, start having kids, before you realize it, your kids are in Elementary school, middle school, and high school.  Then they are the ones off to college.

In the movie "click" adam sandler gets ahold of this remote where he can "fast forward" through things in life.  I feel sometimes like someone has pressed fast forward and I cant make it stop.  Someone please make it stop.

Wisdom from Ferris Beuller:  Life moves pretty fast, sometimes you need to stop.

Wisdom from Jesus, "I've come that you may have life and have it to the fullest" (John 10:10)

So what is "fullest", how do we stop?  How do we put the brakes on?  What do we do??

Take advantage of snow days, take advantage of "off" days, take advantage of every moment in time you can.  Quit taking on so much, realize that you (and I) only have this one life here.  We can't back up and relive years with our kids (or grand kids).  Live without regrets.  Make lots of memories.  Spend as much quality time as you can with those closest to you.

Spend time working on your relationship not only with your family, but with your Lord.  Take that time to get to know Him, He knows everything about you.... But what do you know about Him?  Jesus gave us a "book" a "diary" if you will of His life, His thoughts, His teachings.  It's called the Bible.

As I sit here and reflect on my life, as i think about where I am.  I have several family relationships i need to work on, I know that.  I'm not as close to my immediate family as i would like to be.  Time is killing me on that one.  I am not as close to the Lord as I would like to be.  Time is killing me on that one too.  I admit I am a work in progress.  But, So are you.  We all are.

Every time I think I've got this time management thing down.  I realize...... I don't.

I want to look back on my life and know that I lived this life, here and now, to the fullest with no regrets.

and so my battle with time management goes on, any suggestions???

Have a great day, Chris

Do you know the difference?

Is it real or is it fake?  That's the question..... The bigger question is when it comes to Religion and eternity, do you know the difference.

Sometimes it's easy to tell the difference:

and sometimes it's not:

So how do we know the difference?  How do we know what is right or wrong?  How do we know if it is real or fake?  How do we know?  HOW DO WE KNOW?????

"The evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and i know about Paul, but who are you?" Acts 19:15

People get scammed everyday.  An email encouraging you to send money to a foreign country to get rich.  A guy knocks on your door trying to sell you steaks at a ridiculously low price.  A TV add promises a pill to help you lose weight without doing a bit of diet or exercise. 

Unfortunately people get scammed by religions everyday.  So how do you know?  What are we supposed to do to check them out?  How do we know if they are the genuine article?

The answer to that question and basically any question when it comes to eternity and organized religion is this:  what do they do with Jesus.  Is He recognized as the only Son of God, the ruler of the universe, and the ONLY way to salvation?  If not, I would go elsewhere.

In the verse i mentioned above, the evil spirit knew who Jesus was (of course he did) and knew who Paul was (because he was a known follower of Jesus), but yet he wasn't sure of who the one was who was trying to cast him out.  The key was they weren't using Jesus, they where trusting in themselves.  There are alot of religions that are trusting in themselves, trusting in their "good works", trusting in someone as a mere human being to get them into heaven.  Not gonna happen.

Only one way, and His name is Jesus.  KNow Him and trust Him.  If your religion doesn't, move on.

Have a great weekend.

Chris