Time with Jesus - Friday, 06
January 2012
“And
they all lived happily ever after!” At school we occasionally had to read fairy
stories. You know, “Hansel and Gretel”, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty; lovely
stories. They all seemed to finish well. Everyone was happy. Even Cinderella
ended up marrying the prince.
These
fairy stories made a lasting impression. As children we concluded that
everything would finish well. “Everything’s coming up roses”. But every
generation that goes by proves that everything doesn’t come along with a story
book ending. My parents were confronted by World War one. I went through World
War two. My children lived through Poll Pot and the killing fields of Cambodia.
Our grand children are faced with a world that seems to be completely out of
control. The myth of the happy ending has been thoroughly discredited. The
holocaust is probably the ultimate lesson in unhappy endings. Perhaps “And they
all lived unhappily ever after!” is closer to the truth.
Why?
There are many answers but only one solution. The solution is knowing Jesus
Christ as your personal Saviour. But why do things go wrong? The simple answer
is our sin nature which only Jesus Christ can repair. Certainly, Satan is the
root problem. But he has achieved much of his success by our mutual distrust of
each other. Put simply, we are not willing to befriend each other. This is
where racism begins. This is where things start to go wrong.
In
the 1950’s, it was not easy for an Englishman to befriend Afrikaners. We
couldn’t befriend each other because of what had happened during the Anglo-Boer
War. The concentration camps for the Boer Women and Children still loomed large
in the memory of many people. I sometimes wonder if perhaps these concentration
camps didn’t inspire the Nazi’s to “improve” on their own unique brand of
hatred and oppression. Certainly, even as a child I wasn’t always welcome in the
homes of some of my Afrikaans speaking friends.
Is
this not perhaps the crux of the matter? We don’t know how to befriend each
other. The movie “South Pacific” had a song in it that was banned in South
Africa. It was called, “Carefully Taught”. It was associated with
cross-cultural friendships and marriage. The song included the follow words,
“We have to be taught before it’s too late, before we are six or seven or
eight, to hate all the people our relatives hate. We have to be carefully
taught!” Tragically it’s still true. Even in the New South Africa we struggle
to break the race barrier and befriend our brothers and sisters who look
different from what we do.
I
must confess that I don’t find it easy to befriend men. Part of it is because
the usual masculine lifestyle of sex, booze and sport has no appeal to me at
all. It never has. Even before I was saved in 1960, these activities were not
my scene. So I’m a bit of an oddity. My love is for the Christian lifestyle. My
passion is Jesus Christ. As a result I don’t meet many non-Christians. Some
will say Jim’s a “Holy Joe”. I hope it’s not true. I struggle with it and try
to include others in my circle of friends. But even so, in the past 70 years
I’ve not really managed to make the grade with other men. I don’t suppose I
ever will.
Blessings
Jim & Phyllida Strickland.
Friends are Few
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There has to be a reason why we men
have so few friends.
I cannot understand it. Perhaps friendships depend,
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On those we’re introduced to, most
likely by our wives.
But few have long-term friendships
that last them all their lives.
I know that in reality, men friends
are very few.
And in my past experience, there’s
only one or two.
In fact as I look backwards and down
through all my years,
There’s very few whose passing, would
cause me to shed tears.
The guys I was at school with, I never
will forget;
But since I’ve started working,
there’s few men I have met,
Who’s really been a friend to me. A
few have been a pal.
But normally I’ve met them as I
courted some sweet gal.
Of course I’ve met a lot of men.
Acquaintances? OK.
But very few continue and still are
friends today.
I wonder if this problem is mine and
mine alone?
Perhaps I should be thinking, of the
way that I’ve been known?
The men for me are usually like ships
that pass at night.
We seldom take the time to pause. We
part when it grows light.
Of course I’ve met the people my wife
has come to know.
And they have all been marvellous. In
fact they’ve helped me grow.
But few of them were friends of mine
except by accident.
And this is surely not the way that being
friends was meant.
But there’s someone Who’s special; a
friend for fifty years.
I met Him as a brash young man; a mass
of guilt and fears.
I didn’t know what I should do. My
life was one big mess.
And someone introduced me to a Person
Who would bless.
He’d make my living purposeful. He
looked into my face,
And told me what was wrong with me. He
said I needed grace.
He said He would be with me and stick
closer than a brother
And since I’ve got to know Him, I’ve
found there is no other,
Man who wants to know me, as an
eternal friend.
He said we’d walk together, till time
comes to an end.
And since I fell in love with Him I’m
bored with other men.
And we have a relationship that’s far
beyond my ken.
Perhaps I am unusual? Perhaps I’ve got
things wrong?
But I’ve not met another man who fills
my heart with song.
No other human friendship can possibly
compare,
With walking with my Saviour and
knowing He is there.
Most men are insipid. Sex and booze
and sport,
Is not the sort of lifestyle, I ever
could support.
And if this makes me different, I
think I’d rather be,
A friend of Christ my Saviour, Who has
befriended me.
Jim Strickland – Written 5th January 2012.
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