I've Got Friends in High Places

Garth Brooks sold a lot of records with his song, "I've Got Friends in Low Places....where the whiskey drowns, and the beer chases my blues away and I'll be okay." Seriously??

Goodness gracious – doesn’t that just make you want to go hang out with those friends? NOT! I started thinking about the “low life” and “low places” yesterday morning and what it must be like to chum with those folks. I’m quite sure we’d be joining pitiful, whiny, bitter, down and out, and the-world-is-going-to-hell-in-a-hand-basket kinds of people. “No, thanks, Garth! I won’t be going there to find my friends!” Why go there, when we can go hang out with friends in HIGH Places and eliminate the blues altogether?

Even though Jesus spent His entire ministry with people in “low places”, He didn’t go to their “low places” of darkness and defeat. He didn’t share their “low life” so they could feel better. Jesus came down to their low place in order to lift them up into a life they could be proud of -- one in high places.

I’ve stayed home in Frisco this entire month of August on purpose. After all my traveling since moving here in April, it was time to integrate into some groups and activities, as well as step up to be part of ministry opportunities and outreach at my church. I want to hang out in "high places". On Monday of this week, I went to play pickle ball (great sport) and met some fun, new people. There was one gal that stood out. She was as spunky and full of life as I am – even more so. We didn’t get to talk much but we did agree to play more pickle ball together in the future.

On Tuesday of this week, I attended a meeting for raising up disciples of Christ at my church. I’ve agreed to be a sponsor for new believers coming into the faith. So I sat at a table of 10 which every other seat was filled with a sponsor or inquirer/seeker. I looked across the table and there sitting across from me was this woman who I had just met at pickle ball the day before. How awesome was that? Not only was she a fellow pickle ball player, but she was a fellow sister in Christ. We marveled that God would bring the two of us together, particularly in this massive church of over 35,000 members. Don’t you love how God sets us up for friendships in “high places”, if we’re looking for them? She called me yesterday morning and we talked about our individual lives and how we make every effort to hang out with people in “high places”. She told me she changed her whole way of thinking about and living for God when her husband had two very scary bouts with cancer. I told her my story and how much I want this part of my life to be the best days of my life. I want to live strong for Christ and take lots of people with me when it’s my time to go from here to up there. She replied “Amen and amen. I want that too!” We want to introduce folks living in low places to our best friend, in high places.

God -- the Almighty One, the Creator of this glorious universe --
actually wants to be our friend! Jesus welcomed us to this privileged level of relationship when He said to His disciples on the night before He died, “I no longer call you servants . . . I have called you friends.” John 15:15

As His friends, we are welcomed to enjoy open conversation with Him and to be privy to insider information. “Everything,” Jesus says, “that I have learned from the Father I have made known to you.” John 8:38. It would be thrilling enough to be servants of God, participating in His work, but Jesus adds an entirely new dimension by saying that as friends He will tell us everything we need to know about God’s will and His ways for our lives.

What a stunning thing it is that Jesus says to us: “Let’s be friends”! And like good friends, He wants to talk and walk with us. Here's our choices: hanging out with worry, anxiety, sadness and fear in low places OR making the right choices and living a life of joy, peace, and love in HIGH PLACES. I pray "Take me to higher and higher places!"

I Am a Friend of God

As a young girl, I wasn’t in with the “in” crowd when I was in school. I was by no means one of those popular girls that hung out with those cool cheerleaders and the hunky football team. I wasn’t even in the “nerd” crowd because I sure wasn’t a really smart kid either. I was a shy, average grade student who went to school, did average work, came home and played with my friend next door.

That sounds pitiful, doesn't it? But don’t feel sorry for me because it was in those years that my friendship with God began and grew and that friendship sustained and carried me through some of the toughest times as a little girl AND as a big girl. You see, my Dad was very ill from a brain tumor and after the surgery to remove it, he lived, but became more like a sibling to me than my Daddy. I watched my Mom be so brave and undaunted in her care for him and me. Mom was the best friend I didn’t have in girl friends, because she modeled what it is to be strong, loving, supportive, AND model her friendship with God. She’d talk to Him all the time. She’d sing and praise Him in the midst of such troubling times with my Dad’s illness and having to financially provide for us all. I’m so grateful for what she taught me in what it is to trust God and for Him to be her dearest friend.

Today, I am who I am because early on God was my “bestie”. Without a doubt, I know He’s with me and even when I don’t talk to Him, I know it’s okay, because friends don’t have to always be talking to each other. Sometimes, it’s just being in each other’s presence, so I practice His presence. You see, my FRIEND, is sitting right beside me as I type this post. I know it. I even sense Him smiling with His arm around me as I type “I am a friend of God.”

I’ve come to realize my peace, joy, courage and comfort come from the friendship I have with Him. Oh, I’m right in the thick of life just like others are, and it may look like I live unrealistically, but I assure you, this is the way to live above the fray that comes with “the thick of things". As important as it is to have close friendships, I assure you there is nothing to compare to having God as best friend.

Yesterday, I took a long walk and I started singing “I am a friend of God” (a great Israel Houghton song), and I started thinking about it’s one thing for God to be MY friend, but I want to be HIS friend. Unlike my childhood, I have lots of friends today, but really only a couple of “besties”, and I’m not sure what I would do without them. I know they are there for me any time.

And, as much as I love my girl friends, there is nothing to compare with God calling me His friend – and better yet, I like to think I’m one of His “besties”. After all, I’ve known Him most all my life – since I was 8 years old at a summer church camp, when I invited Him into my heart and asked Him to be my best friend. And, better than the girls in the “in” crowd, or my Mom, or even my “bestie” girl friends today, He’s perfect and I don’t have to look for Him. He’s always there when I need Him. He'll listen to anything I want to talk about, He holds my heart in his hand when life's too painful, and He whispers comfort to me when I'm afraid. James 4:8 says "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." The more I want to cozy up to Him, the more He cozies up to me! Thank you, Lord!

And I have to remember that my friends, even my besties, and I aren't God. We can only do our best to be like Him. He's my everything -- my Savior, my Helper, my Healer, my Shield, my Protector, my Father -- my Everything. And I like to think that I'm His best friend because, after all, He loved me so much that He gave His life for me. How's that for a "bestie"? He even encourages me to sit down and chat with Him, dump my worries and cares into His arms, to allow Him to carry my burdens and to remember all that He's done for me. Then, He gives me a little nudge and says, "Now, go love others, like you love Me!"

John 15:15 " I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father."