Day Twenty-Five Forty Days of Focus: Relationships

Dropping bad friends is hard. Finding new ones may be even more difficult. When I was 18 that's exactly what I did. After four years of high school, I knew I needed to find friends who were not going to lead me to act like a donkey and make a fool of myself. The summer after graduation I stopped returning phone calls and never saw my friends again. It was a lonely summer. In the fall, when I began college, I looked for some new friends. The first week of school there were several fraternities and campus groups with booths recruiting new members. I knew the frat house would be more donkey business, and I stayed clear of them. The group I chose was Campus Crusade for Christ. I met the leader, joined a small group and went to weekly large-group gatherings. It felt like joining a new church. None of the guys seemed like the perfect best friend I was looking for. In fact, they all seemed a bit of a stretch. They were nice, treated me well and seemed to like me o.k., so I continued on. For a few years I stuck with that group of guys but never found a solid, life-long connection. However, during that same time, I began to make solid life choices and grew like a weed in my relationship with Jesus Christ. Eventually I did find some life-long friends at Seminary who were great influences in my life.