January 17 2018 – Click here to listen
I am moving yet one more time and today is the day to clear out the remainder of my furniture from Sarasota Florida. Ugh!
Yesterday I was slammed with tasks and I asked my good friend and webmaster Al Cuneo to reprint and record a Words for the Day from the past; I have nearly 20 years of them in a database.
I don’t know what was going on in my life at the time it was written, but that post he sent out did not reflect my current thinking or state of mind. I even said in the post that I worried, and I haven’t worried about anything in many years. Some of you wrote to pray for me and I appreciate that very much, but I can assure you I am at complete peace and don’t have any worries whatsoever.
It is rare when I repost a Words for the Day, but I do it when I am so inundated that I simply cannot write it, or I’m somewhere where I cannot access the Internet. I know without a doubt that if I call on my friend Al he will come through for me. In fact, if he doesn’t receive my latest entry, both written and recorded, by a certain time, he will begin badgering me with texts, phone calls, and e-mails and annoying me until I respond.
It is sometimes irritating, but on numerous occasions he saves the day because a post won’t transmit because of Internet problems or whatever, and his pestering me forces me to check on it. I believe God put this man in my life to be my friend. He gets up early like me, 3-4 o’clock every morning and sometimes I just call him to see what he’s up to while everyone else sleeps. He is a true friend and I deeply value our friendship and that of his son George.
I’ve found that true friends are hard to find in this world. I sometimes can be cranky, surly, belligerent, and demanding, but the Cuneos seem to take it in stride.
Al is like an old mother hen with his nagging, and he sometime talks over me when I’m trying to explain a project, and it is irritating, but I take it in stride.
It seems the good times and our accomplishments together make it all worthwhile.
I don’t have an overabundance of friends, but I do have my fair share. They make the good times more enjoyable and the tough times more bearable. I urge you to make an effort to nurture your friendships. The rewards are great.
The Bible states in Eccl. 4:9: Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble . . . A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. This is augmented in Proverbs 27:17 – As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.
Remember what the Bible states in that we are better off not being alone. I was alone my entire early life and it is no fun, and it is a tough way to live. The Bible states that “a man who has friends must he himself be friendly.” It also tells us that in order to have friends that we need to overlook the faults of others. We all have faults and idiosyncrasies therefore we cannot expect our friends to always be perfect.
As I was writing this one of my great friends of nine years walked in. My dog Cooper, (Coopie) was wagging his tail and looking up at me with pure love in his big brown eyes. He is not always perfect, but I love him very much. He can be a pain, but I have my moods too. Friends are no different. Friends are just like those sweet and sour recipes, both are necessary to produce something truly magnificent.
I urge you this year to nourish some good friendships and remember if you want friends do as the Bible instructs:
Matthew 7:12
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophet