A FRIEND IN NEED

I received the following story, via email, recently. I am not sure who wrote it, but the story is profound and worth sharing. Hopefully it will inspire us all to reach out to others in friendship...

One day, when I was a freshman in high school,
I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.' I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him.

He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks.' They really should get lives. 'He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!' There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.

We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends
He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday! 'He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.. When we were seniors we began to think about college.
Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship...

Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great.He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous!

Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!' He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. 'thanks,' he said. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began

'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends... I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.'

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told them about the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. 'Thankfully, I was saved.My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.'

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize its depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse. God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others.

SPECIAL MOMENTS

There are moments in our lives which we would like to simply pause, so that we can etch them into our memories permanently.

This was one of them...a couple of years ago. These two chickens were hatched in our home - in an incubator which my daughter designed. I never thought I'd say that I would love chickens, but these two I did! This is a picture of the two of them - after I'd bathed them and dried them with a hair-dryer. (Yes, chickens can be bathed and blow-dried! Indeed they love it!)

The chickens were eventually sent to a farmyard - to peck out their lives, in luxury, with other similar creatures.

LONELINESS

You can be around people, plenty of people, but still be lonely.

Loneliness happens, in the mind, when a sense of isolation has developed and when that person’s thoughts become marginalised. It happens too when you think others around you understand you and then you discover that this is not the case. It happens when you think others are interested in your thoughts and then you discover that their wavelength is totally different from your own.

Loneliness is a horrible place. It’s about a sense of abandonment, a hankering and about putting up walls to protect the soul. It’s about being less than half a person. Human beings are social creatures and made to connect with partners.

In contrast, a soul-mate, is someone who connects with you on a deep mental level. When this happens, emotions follow suit and you realise that the loneliness has left. You realise that your life can be shared and witnessed, after all.

Loneliness is conquered this way... when a soul mate is found. The connection happens and the person is granted the freedom to allow their body to show the changes and to truly connect with the other person. Marriage was intended to celebrate that partnership in a public manner.

The unfortunate thing is that the social convention of marriage and the commitment required by society doesn’t recognise the sense of extreme isolation which comes from loneliness. Society has few crutches for this dreadful condition.

When someone is lonely and you are observant, you will literally see that person wither away. Unfortunately there are few observant people.

Loneliness is death to life!