Reflections of...Friends!

       "My time with my big bro-- the Rev. Charlie Thornton"

        Reflections Of… Family!

                                                                       by Alan P. Scaglione

Different friends feed different things in me.

At the core of all of my friendships is Christ—we are all Christians—we may walk the walk a little differently, but at our core, We love the Lord!
Some friends I share family woes.
Some friends I share accomplishments and goal setting and attainment.
Some friends just make me laugh—and I will call and say “make me laugh!” and… they do.
Some friends just soothe me and calm me and honestly—talk me off the ledge when I think I am about to jump—proverbially…NOT literally! Lol!
But I have this one friend who is my friend I love to share scripture and philosophy and vision and dreams and praise reports…and prayer requests.
He is my “spiritual” Big Bro—and I look forward to our time together because… we share a passion for the Word of God!
Our wives watch us as we talk about the Word—having a mini-Sunday School lesson while we drive to our desination.
This time it was a quaint Amish restaurant in Sarasota, Florida called “Yoders”—great food—great experience.
But the fun of the day was-- the conversation.
Our friends are missionaries to Costa Rica and soon to be Brazil—so we talk about what God is doing in the mission field.
I chuckle and ask “why can’t you be called to somewhere like Ybor City, in Florida, in the United States?”
He shrugs his shoulders and says “I’ve gotta go where the Lord sends me!” and we both know—it’s true—you gotta grow where you’ve been planted!
As we drove to our destination, I get his undivided attention. This is my time with my mentor, my spiritual Dad.
I share some struggles I am going through and how I know God has a plan—I just don’t see it. He shares how God takes us to point B to prepare us for point C.
We share about the stories of the Old Testament and how the stories still have so much to teach us!
 NOTE: those stories are meant for us today so don’t discount them just because they appear before Matthew!!
It is funny to note something: this is the only time when… I sit up front with the man driving and have Bella sit in back with the wife.
I just want my time with my friend—I need to connect with this someone who shares my love for the Word!
He started out being my Sunday School teacher—because he never just went through the motions—his class was full of nuggets of valuable Bible info.
We loved attending and walked away with more knowledge than we started with.
Even Bella said “I feel like we’ve been to Sunday School!”
One funny note: we are men too, not just spiritually minded that we’re no earthly good.
We were leaving our destination and I suggested an alternate route.
He followed my lead…for about 20 miles.
Then he asked “You know where this is taking us, right?”
I responded “I have no idea!”
We laughed til we cried…then he said, “Note to self. Do NOT follow Alan’s directions to nowhere!”
Just a Big Brother and his Little bro driving down the road to nowhere—loving every minute.
We got to the place in the conversation, and eventually we always do, where we shared what God was revealing to us at this point in our walk with God.
This is the GOOD stuff!
As we both shared our vision for the future and where God was leading us—
Tears welled up in our eyes as that tenderness of heart for the things of God just overcame us, and we shared a moment of love for our Savior.
That’s the stuff I wait for—my friend gets me—he knows how it feels to be “that invested” in your relationship with the Lord because… he is also!
And that’s why spending time with my Big Bro is sooooo worth waiting for!

Who’s your spiritual praise and prayer partner?

Brother “A”

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