Written by Ken Mitten
So Jonathan made a covenant with
David, saying, " May the Lord destroy all your enemies!" And
Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of friendship again, for
Jonathan loved David as much as he loved himself.
1 SAMUEL 20:16-17 NLT
Wounds from a friend are better
than many kisses from an enemy.....As iron sharpens iron, a friend
sharpens a friend.
PROVERBS 27:6; 17 NLT
Share each other's troubles and
problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
GALATIANS 6:2 NLT
Yesterday I sent out an excerpt
from FINISHING STRONG by Steve Farrar which spoke to the necessity
of having at least one close male friend who knows you well enough
to tell you when you are full of it (other words could be inserted
here but....)
When I was a child, a teen and
even through my college and beyond years, most of my friends were
female. This served a dual purpose at different points for reasons
that you can probably deduce. My dad jokingly dubbed me "The
Man Who Loved Women" which is the name of a really dumb 70's
Burt Reynolds movie that was in turn a remake of an artsy French
film about a man who dies and hundreds of women show up at his
funeral. I remember the film being all (or mostly) flashbacks,
recollections of his various relationships with women but as
I sometimes do, I digress.....
My dad was somewhat on the money
but for the most part I was a serial
monogamist as opposed to some sort of a gigolo. I
know that many of you are laughing your heads off right now at the
gigolo image. However....
What I mean by "serial monogamist"
is that I was involved in a number of serious relationships with
women that quickly involved intimacy (emotional and physical) and
also involved moving in together very quickly. These
relationships burned out in about 10 months or so but were pretty
much back to back. Additionally, thanks in part to my theatre
background, most of the friends that I confided in were women as
well. This intimacy was, for me safer than bonding in any kind of
real way with other men. I floundered spiritually during this time.
Floundered in that when I was searching
it was in the wrong places and for the wrong things. I mostly did
not believe in God though often acted as if I did when the
situation called for it.
For the longest time there was
no man to pull me up, no man who knew me well enough (or cared
enough) to tell me when I was full
of....it. I suppose ultimately this is
not anything most would pray for but if you do not have male
friends like that you should be praying for God to bring men into
your life in this way. I assume this will make some uncomfortable
(I know I have done that before) but the Bible is not gray on this.
Not in the least.
K
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