An Old Friend

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10AM Sunday Worship Service / 11:15AM Sunday Pastor's class / 630PM Wednesday Bible Study

by: Dave Anderson

12/09/2024

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An Old Friend

A few years ago, I arrived at my office one morning and opened my email to see a name in my inbox that made me think, “could it be?”  I clicked on it, and sure enough, it was someone I knew from Gaithersburg High School in Maryland in 1975. He had been talking to a mutual friend from back in that day when my name came up and they both wondered where I was.  He then Googled my name (which is scary), recognized the picture (even scarier), and then emailed me.  As we emailed back and forth more familiar names and funny stories popped into the conversation.  We had a great trip down memory lane, but it made me wonder, “What creates the separation that develops between people who still like each other?”  

     Over the years, I have moved so many times, that I have left countless friends behind as I made a new life in a new state. The resulting separation is not a loss of fondness but a matter of time and distance.  You know how it goes.  Once you are no longer in close proximity to a friend and your conversations become less and less frequent for a long enough period of time, the friend fades into the background of your life. You still love them, and you’d really enjoy talking with them, but the demands of your current life and location tend to prevent it.  Sad to say, I have friends like that all over the country.  

     Time and distance can do the same thing to our walk with the Lord.  We get so involved with and distracted by the here and now,  that we fail to take time to talk with the eternal One.  Our fellowship with the Lord has to be nurtured just as surely as do our human friendships.  When we no longer feel close to the Lord, the problem cannot be distance because He is always with us.  The problem is always the drop in frequency of our conversations with Him.  It happens slowly.  We fail to pray one day, then we become sporadic for days, and then weeks go by.

     The Word of God sits on our bed stand, coffee table or desk like an email waiting to be opened.  We don’t read it or turn its pages.  We don’t hear from God and He doesn’t hear from us.  It doesn’t take long until that distance shows up in our attitude and actions.  We become impatient, discontent, and eventually, uninterested in the things of God.  We cut back on church participation, invest more time in hobbies, and try to fill the spiritual void by indulging in the material world.

     How wonderful it is that He provides us with opportunities to reconnect with Him, and He does it through His Spirit prompting us to ponder the Word and pray. Have you responded to the Spirit’s prompting?  In the past week, have you spent more time sending emails and logging time on Facebook than you have communing with the Lord?  If so, open His Word today and share your heart with Him.  There is nothing better than hearing from an Old Friend.


Psalm 42:1-2

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?

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An Old Friend

A few years ago, I arrived at my office one morning and opened my email to see a name in my inbox that made me think, “could it be?”  I clicked on it, and sure enough, it was someone I knew from Gaithersburg High School in Maryland in 1975. He had been talking to a mutual friend from back in that day when my name came up and they both wondered where I was.  He then Googled my name (which is scary), recognized the picture (even scarier), and then emailed me.  As we emailed back and forth more familiar names and funny stories popped into the conversation.  We had a great trip down memory lane, but it made me wonder, “What creates the separation that develops between people who still like each other?”  

     Over the years, I have moved so many times, that I have left countless friends behind as I made a new life in a new state. The resulting separation is not a loss of fondness but a matter of time and distance.  You know how it goes.  Once you are no longer in close proximity to a friend and your conversations become less and less frequent for a long enough period of time, the friend fades into the background of your life. You still love them, and you’d really enjoy talking with them, but the demands of your current life and location tend to prevent it.  Sad to say, I have friends like that all over the country.  

     Time and distance can do the same thing to our walk with the Lord.  We get so involved with and distracted by the here and now,  that we fail to take time to talk with the eternal One.  Our fellowship with the Lord has to be nurtured just as surely as do our human friendships.  When we no longer feel close to the Lord, the problem cannot be distance because He is always with us.  The problem is always the drop in frequency of our conversations with Him.  It happens slowly.  We fail to pray one day, then we become sporadic for days, and then weeks go by.

     The Word of God sits on our bed stand, coffee table or desk like an email waiting to be opened.  We don’t read it or turn its pages.  We don’t hear from God and He doesn’t hear from us.  It doesn’t take long until that distance shows up in our attitude and actions.  We become impatient, discontent, and eventually, uninterested in the things of God.  We cut back on church participation, invest more time in hobbies, and try to fill the spiritual void by indulging in the material world.

     How wonderful it is that He provides us with opportunities to reconnect with Him, and He does it through His Spirit prompting us to ponder the Word and pray. Have you responded to the Spirit’s prompting?  In the past week, have you spent more time sending emails and logging time on Facebook than you have communing with the Lord?  If so, open His Word today and share your heart with Him.  There is nothing better than hearing from an Old Friend.


Psalm 42:1-2

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and appear before God?

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