Fire of Friendship


John 15:15

But I have called you friends

Moving back to the townhouse was a bitter pill to swallow. The one thing that made it easier getting down was the prospects of being reunited with my wood pellet stove. It has laid dormant like a Cicada for the last 7 or so years. My tenants weren't keen on it for various reasons.

Thus, my first weekend back, I fired it up. I noticed a telltale sign of it working was missing. The sound of the venting mechanism exiting the smoke to outside. I looked as to why it was this way and I discovered that one of my previous tenants has removed the fuse, rendering the unit inoperable, and the fuse was nowhere to be found. The townhouse got rather smoky until the pellets stopped burning. 90% of the unit worked except the critical 10%. Sweet!

I called an electrician friend of mine to see if he wanted the work and he never called back. A week later I just happened to mention me treating my home like a BBQ to a guy at Church that I don't know real well, but in talking to him, we had some things in common.

We are both educators, are from the Philly Metro region now up here in Central Pa., used to attend the same Church down in West Chester that we both liked--as well as loving the town of West Chester--and that we were both wayward youth at one time, lapsed Catholics, who the Lord had to hit with a 2X4 to get on the narrow road. And who still have to get whacked again as a refresher.

He offered to help fix the wood pellet stove and I demurred. I didn't want to take advantage of his generosity. When my other buddy still didn't get back to me, I called my new friend. He was totally into helping me for free. He had the know-how, the tools, and a willingness to help. Soon the wood pellet stove was cranking like a locomotive engine which turned a bit uncomfortable because it was in the high 50's outside. This dude and I are becoming friends. He's pretty cool. Although he is in his 50's, he wears skater sneakers.     

Friendship often starts as a spark, then a flame. Sometimes it peters out, other times it catches. It brings warmth into our cold lives. Is it not amazing that Jesus calls us friends? A basic component of being a friend is to be  loyal. If we find ourselves ashamed of a certain friend because the "cool" crowd has not issued that person a cool card, better to lose the crowd and stick with your friend, because he or she will stick with you when the crowd has moved on. Stick with Jesus, for He stuck by you. And, got stuck for you.

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