Two Are Better Than One

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Two are better than one,

because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down,

his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls

and has no one to help him up!

Helen Keller said, "It is that my friends have made the story of my life..." Not so, for me. Not so. For me, it is that my God has made the story of my life. My friends, well, they have been blessed gifts from Him. Some have come for a short while and others have endured over time. Some I have had the privilege of encouraging. Others I have had the delight of being encouraged by. And the rare few have been a wonderful balance of both.

One has come into my life very recently and I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was sent by the Lord. Sent for encouragement. Sent for instruction. Sent for conviction. Sent to remind me of what it looks like to be bubbling over in excitement for the Word. Sent for friendship. Sent to be an example of how service is important but it isn't the one thing.

When I was a Junior in high school, a class of mine was asked what we thought about the after life. Did we believe there was one? Did we think, perchance, there wasn't? It should come as no surprise that I spoke up. "If there is no life after death," I began, "then life has no point." I stand by that statement today. If I am simply here to live and work and experience pain and suffering and grief and trials of many kinds then what a terribly miserable existence. But if I am here to learn how to be there, if I am only passing through, if this is just a vague beginning to something so much bigger, then life has a thick and exceedingly phenomenal purpose.

It should be my deepest desire to soak up as much as I can, to learn everything I can grasp about where I'm headed, to dwell in the Lord here so that I can relish in His presence there. Truly, it is all that matters.

I hadn't forgotten.

Not by a long shot.

But seeing it all being lived out in such an inspiring way and, perhaps, being used as encouragement in return, is a much needed gift. Especially when the going gets tough. "If one falls down, his friend can help him up." God bless friends.