by Darryl Maxwell

Dr. James McPherson and I arrived in Tryon about the same time.  We have been friends ever since.

One of the tricks I used to pull on Jim (and I tell this with his permission) involved a note that I used to tuck behind his windshield wiper, most often when we were visiting church members at St. Luke’s Hospital. Although our paths did not cross in the corridors I knew he was there because I’d seen his yellow jeep in the parking lot.

If I were the first to finish my rounds I would write a little note and tuck it behind the windshield wiper on the driver’s side of his jeep. He would see it once he got behind the steering wheel. In order to retrieve the note he had to get out of the jeep and take the note from behind the wiper blade.

He may have suspected, but never was certain from whom it came or what it said, so each time he had to get it and read it. If the note were mine it would simply say, “I was here and you were gone. Now you are here and I am gone.” And it was signed, “The Phantom.”  He of course knew the identity of “the Phantom.”  It was always taken with a chuckle. Such is friendship.

Friends are a gift from God. We may have many acquaintances but I suspect we have few friends, really good friends, I mean. A good friend requires the investment of ourselves in him or her, and there is only so much of us to go around, therefore really good friends are few.

The wisdom Book of Proverbs has a couple of thoughts on friendship. It says “A friend loves at all times….”(17:17a).  It also says “A man with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother” (18:24).

There is an interesting statement about God and friendship in the Letter of James, chapter 2, verse 23, part of which is a quote from Gen. 15:6. It says “…Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.”

I remember a simple chorus from my childhood. It began, “My best friend is Jesus….”  I have a few really good friends, Jim is one of them. But my very best friend is Jesus. Who’s yours?