“Don’t neglect meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another more and more as you see the Day of Jesus’ return drawing near.” (Heb.10:25)
Dear Jesus, it’s dangerously easy to presume on cherished friendships— busyness leads to distance and drawing on old memories replaces making new ones. Checking in becomes a substitute for pursing hearts, and getting older makes it easier to get alone. Don’t let us acquiesce to this drift, Jesus. Even our favorite, most comfortable pair of jeans needs attention, TLC, and occasional mending. 100 times more so do our friendships. Bring faces to mind and heart we should immediately be thinking about.
As for myself, I’m leaving this morning for a week of catching up and catching fish with 5 men drawn together by your providence and my 70th birthday. Through I knew each of them before we became a Gospel-posse, we have experienced a lot of life and “rodeo” over the past nearly 7 years, and each of us is now in a season of transition.
So, my prayer today starts with a big thank you. Thank you for these brothers. Thank you for friends who don’t relate to me as “the pastor,” but as a fellow sinner-saint and grace-needy man, who loves the Gospel and the outdoors. How freeing.
Jesus, I’m not embarrassed to ask that we’ll catch some really nice fish; but more so, I ask you to give us a very special time together. I’m not sensing heaven is soon for any of us, but neither am I assuming that it’s not. May we love you and each other well over the next few days. May we boast in our weaknesses and in you, and humble-brag about some Walleye, Pike, and even a Muskie. So Very Amen.
