As a child, I was blessed to grow up in church, and that is precisely where I met someone who would prove to be a significant part of my part to this very day and I am sure, for the rest of my life.
He is my best friend, Mike.
Which brings me to the story I want to share with you.
We met at church when we were no more than ten or eleven years old. That, incidentally, is the age my daughter is now -- and I often wonder if any of the friends she now has, at least one of whom she has known since they were newborns in the church nursery, will be as close as Mike and I are as adults.
Anyway, back to Mike. He and I met at church as children and were inseparable during our childhood and teen years. When, at the ripe old age of 21 we both got married within a few months of each other, I was his best man and he was mine.
Like my wife Kim and I, Mike and his wife Tina were high school sweethearts. They enjoyed a long, happy marriage and four children together before a tragic automobile accident took Tina to be with the Lord, leaving Mike to raise their four children alone. The kids were at that time between the ages of eleven and sixteen. Mike is an awesome dad and he did a marvelous job with those kids, the youngest of whom is now a senior in high school, and I'm very proud of each one of them.
And just last month I was able to stand for the second time with my best friend at his wedding, this time not as the best man, but as the minister performing the ceremony. God has given Mike a wonderful Christian lady as his wife, and I could not be happier for both of them. And where else would you expect they met? At church... the best place I know of to meet the people who will become those rare, meaningful lifelong relationships we all cherish.
As I sat at the wedding reception watching my daughter and Mike's daughters laughing and talking, and listening to our parents laughing, telling stories about things we boys did when we were teenagers (which for some reason are funny now, but got us grounded for weeks at a time then), I realized how blessed I was to be surrounded by people who have known me and loved me all my life.
Mike and I still talk on the phone every couple of weeks, see each other when we can, and end every conversation with, "Love ya, buddy."
And you know what else? I will confess that I cherish those opportunities to spend time with people who knew me before I was "Pastor Bob." To them I'm still "Bobby," and I think that's what going home is all about. |
