8.29.07 "Circle Yes or No"

High school is basically four years of nothing but socializing. You grow more and more independent of your parents and you try to branch out and develop relationships outside of your family to prove it. As you do this, you develop friendships that last a lifetime and you start to get those “butterflies” for that special guy or girl until they are asked to “circle ‘yes’ or ‘no.’” Then you find out what they really feel and how they were only looking for that “one thing” and they stab you in the back and make you look stupid in front of all of your friends and go after Brock, the quarterback instead!

Oh, sorry. I thought I was writing in my diary for a second.

Relationships are all we have sometimes. Life gets tough and it’s easy to feel completely helpless. It’s those relationships that get us through those times. David had that kind of relationship. You see, when David was running from King Saul, he had an awesome friendship with Jonathan, Saul’s son. Their friendship was based on three things that allowed the relationship to work so well: sacrifice, loyalty and encouragement.

It was based on sacrifice because Jonathan was the “rich kid” who had everything but he also gave everything to David out of love, admiration and respect. He shared his clothes, his weapons, and eventually, his right to the throne.

It was based on loyalty because Jonathan had his own “circle ‘yes’ or ‘no’” moment: choose his dad or choose his best friend, David. Once he found out his father’s intentions on killing David, he sided with David and helped him escape Saul’s pursuit.

It was based on encouragement because David got tired of running and couldn’t figure out why Saul wanted to kill him. Jonathan stepped in and reminded David that the Lord was with him.

Good friends are hard to come by and in this life; we never stop making new ones. As those new friendships are created, base them on these three principles and watch how much easier life becomes.

Proverbs 17:17 states this: “A friend loves at all times…”

Looking for the ultimate friendship? Jesus came from heaven to earth to die for your sins because He loves you. He wants to have a relationship with you. All you have to do is circle “yes” or “no.”

-NW