This one is just for YOU!

There are times when we feel so alone, isolated, cut off from society desolate even and it seems that we are stuck in the cracks of time and no one knows we are here. I can tell you that you have felt that way because I am judging you by myself and I go through that thought pattern myself. Since I am here to talk about things that bother me in the hopes that you will see yourself in my mirror and identify I want to share something with you and maybe it is as much for you as for the person in my dream.

I have a “social media” friend; I have never met this person face-to-face however it is one of those spiritual connection that happens, rarely. On Friday morning of this past week I was up early and having my coffee waiting for the sun to break the horizon, I sat my cup down and fell into a deep “second” sleep. In what seemed more reality than dream this friend walked into my great-room and spoke briefly but didn’t stop to talk, just walked over to one of the couches in the room, which is to my left. I acknowledged their presence but didn’t speak just watched as they lay down on my couch, fully clothed even had on their shoes, facing the back of the couch so that their back was presented to me and proceeded to fall fast asleep. As I watched them sleep I tried to open my eyes for their presence in the room seemed so real, so physical. When I forced myself to open my eyes I realized I had been asleep, it hadn’t been long because my coffee was still steaming in my fat white mug.

All I could assume was that this person was very tired, maybe weary is a better word for what I felt and needed the comfort of a friend that would make no demands on them, just be there in the room for the comfort of company without making conversation, just peaceful rest.

As I think about that I think that a lot of us have a need for that with no way to actually have it. We are surrounded by so many people, things that need to be done, worries that plague us, failed dreams, lost aspirations, disappointment in our life to the point that we want to just lay it all down and die. I have more than one friend that has expressed the desire to just go be with Jesus and be done with everything here on this earth, and I can’t say that I haven’t felt the same…especially since my dad left.

Eternal life is the ultimate goal for sure but we are here in a boot camp preparing for things yet to come. The Marines have never sent one of their few, their proud into a fight without having first prepared them by sending them through boot camp at Parris Island, and from everything I have heard about that place it is a time of hell for the young people going through it. But it changes them from ordinary citizens into fighting machines that are able to withstand the battle.

Jeremiah 12:5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?

In that verse God is answering Jeremiah’s complaint about people who are doing evil and still seems to be happy, the ones who talk about God but whose actions are far from Godly. Sounds like some of my complaints, maybe yours too?

Point, we need each other. We need to know that there is someone “out there” who can know what we are going through without having to explain every detail.  I told a friend recently who requested prayer, “I don’t need to know the details because God already knows them well and has them handled!” So you may wonder why should we pray if God already knows. Simple, we need to power of agreement here on this earth and then heaven responds. Matthew 18:19-20

“Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

We all go through rough times but knowing someone is there who cares for you helps us and yes we all know “what a friend we have in Jesus”, but it helps to have each other also. Ecclesiastes 9:4-11 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.

I may not be able to lift you up physically but I do hope that I somehow I can help you in the spirit. I do pray for everyone that reads these words!