Life is full of people. They enter your life at different seasons and your relationships with them varies from person to person. There are people you meet who are acquaintances. They come and go and usually there’s not much left but a face and a name and everyone is okay with that. We’ve all got those people. You’ll say hi in the grocery, swap a polite, “How are you?” and be on your way. Then there are people with whom you have a connection with and your lives run on the same track for a while, but a change in location or career and your paths don’t seem to cross as often as they used to. Eventually, over time, you’re in different places in life and that connection isn’t as strong. It’s no one’s fault, it just happens. But every once in awhile you are blessed to have those friends whom I would like to call forever friends. I love forever friends. They know no distance and time apart has no effect. You know you have a forever friend when you can pick up right where you left off and enjoy each others company just as much as you always did. Marla and I just had the most amazing experience to kick off the summer. After 20 years and many miles between us, we just spent a week with some of our forever friends. They flew in from Tennessee to stay with us for one week at our home in southern California and the plan was simple: renew our friendship and catch up on life. Our visit was fantastic and there was never a dull moment!

It started at LAX and was going to end with a late dinner at In-N-Out Burger, a must-have when entertaining out-of-town guests. But before that delicious meal, we temporarily lost our friends at the airport. We promised to meet them at the bottom of the escalator at baggage claim. How difficult could that be? The first text comes in, “we landed” to which we replied, “we’re here!” We excitedly waited as we watched all the passengers come down the escalator to claim their luggage. Thirty minutes later we send another text, “where are you?” to which they reply, “baggage claim 1.” We checked Baggage Claim 1, thoroughly…no friends! After consulting with a police officer we find out that because their plane had been delayed they were rerouted to Terminal 6 and we were at Terminal 4. Fifteen minutes later we send our friends yet another text, “stay put we will find you.” When we arrived at Terminal 6 – Baggage Claim 1, our friends are nowhere in sight. Later we found out that they went outside looking for us. After our game of hide and seek, we spotted each other and our fantastic week began!

The minute we saw them and joined up in the airport it was like yesterday became today. We couldn’t stop laughing and talking about all that the Lord was doing in our lives and in the lives of our children and grandchildren. God blessed our reunion in so many fun ways as we lived out the California Dream with them. When it was time to say goodbye, we did so, knowing that we would see each other in the years to come, as the Lord permits.

As I reflected on our week together the scripture that came to mind was 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” You might be wondering how this verse applies for this occasion; however, I have always believed that my closest friends are those who love the Lord and who have a great joy walking with Him. When our friends arrived, their spirit instantly testified with our spirit and the underlying theme of where the last 20 years had taken them was the same as ours. Story after story told it all. It was about the Lord seeing them through similar types of dilemmas that we have experienced. It was raising our children in a Christ-like home and teaching them to be faithful to their Heavenly Father and his Son and Savior Jesus Christ. It was going through health issues and fears; joys and journeys; walking and seeking direction from the Lord along every path. We knew we were still kindred spirits and as the week went on and we spent our days sightseeing and our nights talking, this truth only continued to unfold.

You see, the verse I quoted is really quite fitting. To give you a little background of this verse, the apostle Paul was preparing to visit the Corinthian believers after a long while. It was here in Corinth that a magnificent temple was built for the Greek goddess Aphrodite. It was a city of 400,000 people from all walks and backgrounds with a corrupt history and a debased religion. Paul was very familiar with this setting and now he was eager to visit his Christian friends in Corinth. You see, when Jesus is everything you are living for and he is the One whom you converse with daily, you quickly recognize when someone is doing the same, or not. Jesus is that common thread that ties you together in your friendships and through life’s experiences. We knew from the first smiles and hugs we received from our dear friends in the airport that it was going to be a week we’d never forget. Our Tennessee friends from all those years ago were our friends today because Jesus was still doing the “remarkable in our lives.” We had Him in common and our connection was stronger because of Jesus. What Paul was saying here in 1 Corinthians 2:2 was, “when I arrive to see you, I really don’t need to spend a lot of time in endless discussion and dialogue with you,” as was common for him to do when confronted with those who were Greeks living in Corinth. Paul knew that he didn’t have to ask a lot of questions about the past to figure out where these Corinthian believers were at. He just needed to know one thing: was Jesus still the God of their life? This question applies to us everywhere, everyday: Is Jesus still the one who is transforming you to be more like him?

We are thankful for our dear friends and the time we got to spend together. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17). We are already looking forward to our next vacation in the near future. When you have forever friends, don’t let them go. “A friend loves at all times…” (Proverbs 17:17).