Up Close And Personal

Up Close and Personal

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

My friend Christa and I were catching up after months of busy lives, holidays, and travel, and her face glowed as she talked about her family’s recent trip to Haiti. Stories tumbled out about the little girl their family was sponsoring at a small school, about how curious children swarmed the guys as they completed basic construction projects. She talked of the school administrator who welcomed visitors with the kind of hospitality that we Americans rarely encounter in our own culture.

As she took a deep breath, my friend’s eyes suddenly welled up. She asked if I had heard about the civil unrest sweeping that tiny country. Tears fell down her cheeks as she shared about recent events, about flaming tire barricades on roads that blocked supplies, about families running low on water and food. She spoke of the people’s anger and frustration toward the government—anger that was swelling toward violence and sweeping up the students, their families, and everyone associated with their school into chaos and danger.

“Julie, these people are my friends; I love them. And there is nothing I can do to help them.” Her whispered words held the pain of someone who loves deeply and personally.

This is the beauty of friendship. We pray differently when our hearts are involved. When we’ve shared a meal, walked alongside, and entered into relationship with someone else, our prayers reflect that love. This is the kind of love Jesus loves us with—the close-up, personal love found in friendship. When we love others the way Jesus loved us, our prayers well up from the depths of our souls until they pour out of us with a desperation born from the knowledge that without God’s intervention, there is no hope. We turn from lukewarm prayer wimps into unstoppable prayer warriors who will not accept no for an answer. Christa is an unstoppable prayer warrior for her friends in Haiti, and because I love Christa, I am too.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Consider who in your workplace, church, neighborhood, or community God may be calling you to draw closer to, and ask God how you might pray differently for that person.