Blessed Friendships

I know I know...I say I will write and it never seems to be enough. Really. I could write everyday...as everyday seems to be an adventure, however, the adventures seem to wipe me out lately. I must be aging...NAH!!! That is just silly talk....

Ok. Here I go with the excitement from the last few days...

Let me think...where to begin...I know...I will tell you a story...

Once upon a time...Wait. Not that kind of story...Well maybe...

This story begins almost twenty years ago on a bus loaded with a group of talented musicians and singers...mostly singers. Although a humble group they were known in some parts as "world-famous".

Every day on the bus these musicians had a routine. There would be laughing, sleeping, crying, story telling, prayer time, personal time and the list goes on and on...The group would do everything...almost...on the bus...sometimes, it was all they could do to survive each day...but as each day passed they became a family.

As all families, this one had its quirks...Let us take a closer look at two of the "sisters". The first sister was going through some personal issues with her biological family. Every day when it was time to share, she would share the newest happenings of her family. The things that were happening to her were very personal, and scary to her and she was very brave to share them. Along with that, she was outspoken and liked to follow the rules as they were intended....

Enter sister B - She was blinded to the true source of the first sister. She didn't understand what she was going through and selfishly thought Sister A should keep to herself. So much drama... It didn't help that sister A had demonstrated her desire to follow the rules to Sister B and call her on a rule that she thought was borderline....This only made the tension worse...Still, in her selfishness, Sister B spoke to trusted advisors in her home state and in her Bible..

BEAR ONE ANOTHERS BURDENS>>>>

This was the phrase that kept popping up when Sister B tried to ignore all other situations until it could no longer be ignored...I bowed my head and prayed for forgiveness...that was the easy part. I knew I had to confront Sister A...it could be ugly...she may not forgive me...we still had a lot of time left to spend on the bus...how could I endure it if someone doesn't like me...BEAR ONE ANOTHERS BURDENS...still pulsating through my thoughts...I took a deep breath, swallowed hard and jumped in...

I told her everything...right down to the part where I was sorry for judging her...I wanted to be her friend but I would totally understand if she wanted nothing to do with me...

I am not sure how long it took, but we became friends. Great friends. The kind of friendship that you realize only comes once in your life...one that is truly blessed.

I am happy to report that all is still well...we have an annual trip in November where I go see her in Arizona. It works out great. I get to see her husband briefly, he goes on to a missions trip and the rest of the weekend is ours to tear up the Gilbert area. Let me take this moment to say thank you to Ronnie for a great weekend. As always, it was the one I look forward to the most...Only 51 more weeks.

I realize this post is already long but I wanted to put a couple more thoughts in here. While their stories may not be read tonight...the tale of friendship may still be told at a future date.

First, I have a friend who has been my friend for too many years to count...I have felt the greatest love and hardest loss because of him. It is a story of believing, faith, caring and forgiveness...(Sure there is ugly stuff but who wants to remember that?). You know who you are my friend and I thank you for caring about me so much that you were concerned about me. You have no idea what it did for me.

Second, My traveling friend...I miss you too. Please come home safely. We will have lots of scrapping parties when you return.

Third, I have a friend who just returned from Hawaii...Lets get together soon to see all the goodies you got and to scrap your trip. We have been able to spend some quality time together scrapping and it has been great.

Last, but certainly not least...My Expressions friend... I aprreciate how much our friendship has grown over the last several months. You mean a lot to me. Thanks for everything...

Ok. I am pausing...I just wanted to let some of the friends in my life know that I appreciate you...I know so many times we can go through life and not let the friends you care about even know...Now you have no excuse. I have witnesses. :)