The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
- Exodus 33:11
After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.
Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
- 1 Samuel 20:41-42
When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the Lord’s enemies.”
David sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and Jattir; to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa and Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; to those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak and Hebron; and to those in all the other places where he and his men had roamed.
- 1 Samuel 30:26-31
After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
- Acts 13:22
Boilerplate
I’m Harold Dykstra. I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story. My time is well spent. A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel. I did not know she was an angel at the time. The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone. And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy. She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others. She changed my life. Since she was a doll that had come to life, we came up with the term ‘other living.’ She was not a human, an animal, or even a plant, but she was definitely living, and very vibrant. Oh, excuse me, angels have no gender, but the angel indwelled a doll named Bountiful Babs. After seeing the angel in that form for over a year, I cannot see her in my mind in any other form.
This Week’s Question
In the last episode, Babs helped with the driving, while I got a needed rest.
But this week, I gave her an option while we were in northwest Ohio. We could take a vacation or we could go back to Tracy.
Babs commented that Tracy was not her home when we returned after the first trip. It was a short stay. I had made my eastern run in the Fall of last year and she had become my travel buddy that first day. But that was her job, her purpose, according to her thinking. She did not want to stop. So, for the winter sales run, we went south and then kept going west, skipping a stop in Tracy to go through the Spring sales run out west. Our summer sales run was a short one. I had always designed it that way to have a vacation with the children. Then, with my wife at my side, the break in the summer was for doctor visits.
But Babs had used that first trip to Tracy to get her driver’s license. She had befriended Gladys, an elderly widow. Their friendship had been good for both of them. And on our last stop, Babs had met Morrie and Willie, my children.
Babs smiled, “Harold, you have given me enough memories in this year to last a lifetime. I think I have seen enough mountains. I have dipped my toes in the Atlantic, Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and three of the Great Lakes. You have been good to me. I had to drive a little, so that you could rest. You need a better rest, and I need to visit Gladys and the kids. Let’s go home.”
My heart skipped a beat. “You called my place ‘home’.”
Babs smiled and blinked a few times. “It’s your home, and since I am your travel buddy, it is my home. Besides, I want to see my friends. Hmm. I have met a lot of people who were my friends for the moment, especially when you had enough sales calls for us to stay in one place for a while, but I guess I call Tracy home is because I have long-lasting friends there. What does the Bible say about friends, Harold?”
“Well,” I pondered, “You could say that Jesus and his disciples were friends. In Exodus 33, it says that Moses talked to God face-to-face like He was a friend. Nearly two-thirds of the books in the Bible mention the word ‘friend’ in one form or another. But I guess one of the most famous friendships was the one between Jonathan and David. Jonathan was the son of Saul. King Saul would fly into rages and want to kill David. And Jonathan ran interference, at least one time that the Bible talks about. Jonathan determined that his father was still angry. David hid and Jonathan gave him the signal to run away, but they said good-bye before David left. A lot of people make a big deal about them kissing, but a lot of cultures today greet people with a kiss, just don’t go to the wrong cheek, it might send a message you do not want to send.”
Babs gasped, about ready to ask a question, and then she said, “Oh!”
I continued, “But the thing is that during the time David was either running away from King Saul or he was helping the people of Judah with their neighbor problems, David made friends easily. When David destroys the Amalekites in First Samuel 30, he shared the plunder with people from a lot of towns in Judah. These days, a politician might do some sharing, but not out of his own pocket, in order to gain someone’s vote, but David did it because they were friends and God provided his needs.”
It became quiet in our hotel room. Then I added, “Paul, in one of his sermons, said that David was a man after God’s own heart. But you cannot say that David is without sin. There was the whole deal with Bathsheba and the cover up, which essentially meant David murdered Uriah. Why? Because Uriah was so honorable that he would not sleep with his wife while his military men were in tents during the siege of Rabbah. David made another boneheaded mistake when he called for a census. It was a moment of arrogance and not relying totally on God. People get that way at times, thinking that they have enough stored away. But when you look at David’s life as a whole, he worshipped God and He trusted God. But he had friends. So, while God wants us to worship Him, rely upon Him, trust Him and love Him, this whole thing about loving our neighbor is that God wants us to make friends.”
Babs scrunched her nose, “But, Harold, you are courteous with your customers and the hotel staffs along the way, but you don’t seem to have a lot of friends. I am concerned for you. At some point, I will not be here. You will not need a travel buddy. It’s only going to be for a few weeks before you go on your eastern sales trip, but maybe you should join that Thursday night Bible study at the church.”
I asked, “And how do you know about a Bible study back home on Thursday nights?”
Babs giggled, “The church newsletter is online. I also read the bulletin every week to get the latest announcements. One of the latest ones is that due to people being on vacation, the food bank needs people to help next week with distributions. We can both volunteer.”
I groaned, “Taking a vacation so that I can work really hard? Yippee!”
Babs had a nice belly laugh. “Come on, Harold. It will do you some good, and you might make a friend. I am going to visit Gladys on the first full day we are back home.”
Credits
All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife. We would talk about anything and everything. And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.
My wife and I donated to food banks over the years, but we distributed food once or twice. And some food banks have the opportunity to talk to the people who get food there. They get to minister to more than their physical needs.
What my wife enjoyed more was cooking meals for the homeless. She did that until she could not rely on her health to get the meal finished in time. I suggested that we buy a bucket of chicken, but she said that her meals had to show these people that they were loved. Anyone could buy some chicken. That was the hardest thing she dealt with being too infirmed to do that cooking anymore. She missed those meals and talking to the people and learning their stories. Hmm. Sounds like Harold after he accepted the fact that he was retired.
And I often went to weeknight Bible studies, but I do not feel comfortable driving at night. Not night blindness, just a shorter field of vision and my reaction time is getting slower. The dangerous old drivers are the ones that do not compensate as they get older.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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