We recently enjoyed a wonderful week in Wales with our old friends, the Burridges. Dave was my very first Christian friend, all those years ago on Castle Vale back in 1983. I was best man at his wedding to Hilly - they have now been married 24 years! Wow! It makes me feel a little old, I guess...but also very grateful for our friendship. We certainly don't see each other as often as we'd like to - distance, jobs, life etc - all of it seems to combine & means that (in the words of Jim Croce's 'Time in a Bottle')- 'there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find them...' But the wonderful thing about friendship, especially our friendship, is that when we do meet up, it's just like putting my slippers on. It's comfortable. I feel relaxed. I don't have to impress, prove myself, pretend - all of that other stuff that we often have to plough through to find our way to a truly good & open friendship.
I remember the first time I met Dave. I was at a prayer meeting at the local church which I'd just joined. I was fresh from making my first step as a follower of Jesus (having gone forward at the Billy Graham Rally at Villa Park). I discovered that there were to be 2 separate prayer meetings - one for the 'more solid/mature/regular' believers...and one for us 'novices' ;-) Needless to say, our meeting was a quite affair. Half a dozen new believers with little idea of how to pray, what to pray etc can only make for a time that is less noisy than a trip around the local library...
However, that in the next room was Dave. Unbeknown to me at that time, this was Dave's first visit since he'd recommitted his life back to Jesus. He'd been involved in drugs - hard drugs...and God had healed him, taken him through the horrors of cold turkey without so much as a sweat...and he was, back on the road again. I heard him pray, "Oh well, Lord, here I am again..." - and that was the beginning of a really open prayer. I mean, I just did not know you could pray like that...I just had to meet this guy. And so began a very long friendship. I have know some people longer than Dave - but I have to say that the friendship with Dave is surely the deepest and the longest that I have. We've been through some things together...
Interestingly, it was Dave who ignited my love for birds. We were out walking at Plants Brook Park in Birmingham (when it was rough & ready)...a keen birder, he had his binoculars with him. We were talking about lie and stuff when he suddenly stopped and adopted (what we call in the trade) the 'twitching pose' - he'd seen something & was gazing at it through his binoculars. It was a kingfisher. He handed me the binoculars. I saw the most beautiful bird I'd ever seen - electric blue, glowing orange...diving into the water and back up to its perch above...I was hooked! Since that day, my love for bird-life has grown. Indeed, it was something of a compliment to be told on this trip by Dave that now perhaps Petra & my knowledge has surpassed his (though I doubt that...).
Certainly, my best friend is Petra, my wife - and that is how it should be. But I realised on this trip that what I have with Dave (& this includes Hilly, his wife) is something that can't really be measured. It grows, even if we don't have face-to-face contact. I am thankful for the wonders of modern technology - Skype, Facebook, E-mails, mobile phones...but you can't beat real friendship. It takes time. It sometimes comes where you don't expect it. And yes, it continues to grow. We all need close friends - I remember this every time I watch 'Shawshank Redemption' - and I'm glad for my friends...especially Dave. :-)
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