1.24-A surprising thing happend at the end of a cold week

1.24-A surprising thing happened at the end of a cold week. The Warmth of Friendship

I  can be restless, blue and even irritable and I get a call to join a group of guys going out to encourage three older guys at our church and get pumped.  I have been with these three guys before and they are fun and can do so many different things.  I learn from their work and family.  We agitate and aggravate and pick on each other in good humor as we visit the men we are going out to see.

In these afternoon visits we are become a little less unselfish.  We are all reminded that there is plenty of laughter and joy to go around with all of us.  We don’t need to compete with each other but rather to support and set each other up for comedy and get us all to laugh at life.

We can ask the question and mean it, “How are you doing?”  We have the time and energy to listen.  We are all retired from our regular work obligations so have time to not rush from one appointment to another but to slowly reconnect with things that men can to do help.  One of the guys looked at a broken floorboard beneath a sink.  He heard about a door dragging and the shifting soils and level foundation warranty that wasn't worth the paper it was written. Another guy had a chance to get a grocery list for later delivery and a third guy ran to get a breakfast sandwich for a guy a 3.30pm because that is what he wanted.

The guys doing the visiting and the guys visited are all over 70 and some in their mid eighties.  Two widowers had lost wives.  All had children and grand kids with many joys and some sorrows along the way.  Some of the stories were of the mystery of God sending angels to help people at times of great need.

The normal annoyance about our own lives melted away for these four hours.  We placed our own issues into a background and could see there were crosses that others had to bear that we had been spared. On man had four children and three had died.

There was feeling of kindness passed around.  No easy, 1,2,3 answers were expected or given.  We had all lived too long for that.

The reality is that we are much more than our own problems.   Our group of six men belong.  We belong to each other and to the work of making each laugh a little bit with our visit.  Some belong to different ways of helping these guys have a better life.  One of the wives bakes some banana bread which one of the guys loves.

This Friday, bright sunshiny day, was such a contrast to the very cold days during the week.  We had been avoiding the cold all week, but now warmth in our laughter and good memories of the past helped our day buzz by.

Hebrews 13.

13 Let love of the brethren continue. ² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. ³ Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body. ⁴ Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. ⁵ Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” ⁶ so that we confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?”

⁷ Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the ^[a]result of their conduct, imitate their faith.⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.