02-22-26

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
February 22, 2026
On Friday and Saturday, I attended the Men’s Retreat at Disciple Oaks Camp in Gonzales, Texas. The theme was Christian Friends - Wanted, Needed, Valued. We heard some powerful keynotes and testimonies. During one in particular, I kept on thinking about our focus passage for today, the First Sunday of Lent, “I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). I believe we can endure the challenges that come our way much more easily with a trusted friend as compared to doing it alone. In 1991, only 3% of adults in the U.S. said they had no friends. Thirty-five years later, that number jumps to 12%. If you look at the statistics by gender, 15% of men would currently say they do not have a single close friend. In Proverbs 18:24, we read how “there are friends who are more loyal than family.” Of course, those kinds of friends don’t just happen. We make a friend by being a friend, and not by viewing others transactionally. At some point, life is going to be hard. That might be a year from now or fifteen years from now, but whenever that challenge comes your way, God will seek to give you the strength to endure. But God’s enduring power is often manifest in that friend who already knows you, including your weaknesses and that one over-the-top embarrassing blunder. Church is not the only place where such friends can be found, but it can be one place assuming we as individuals are willing to do the work of friendship, which includes self-giving love.

Wherever I can be a friend, Holy God, I pray for the skills to be the best friend possible. You created us to live deeply connected to one another; such connections do not happen overnight and will not occur without some genuine vulnerability and risk. Guide me, Lord God. Amen.