A Blog by Jason Salamun

“The person who shuns the bitter moments of friends will be an outsider at their celebrations.”  - Proverbs 14:10 (The Message)

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” – Walter Winchell

A friend will walk with you through a storm.

It’s the surest test of a friendship.

Those who care are there.

In person, in heart, or in prayer.

There are no shortcuts to building genuine friendships.

The only way I know of to have a friend is to be a friend.

Friendships are best slow baked, not microwaved.

If you’re a true friend, you’ll rejoice when your friend rejoices and weep when your friend is weeping. (Romans 12:15)

Most of us are so concerned with who is there for us that we forget to be there for them.

Friendships are a two-way street, not a one lane highway.

If all your friendships suck, look in the mirror.

It might just be because you’re self-centered.

Or you smell bad.

But hopefully you have a friend who would tell you.

Someone who will give it to you straight.

The person who doesn’t approve of your stupid decisions is often not your enemy, they’re your friend.

Even if you don’t like it.

Remember, the wounds from a friend can be trusted. (Proverbs 27:6)

Or as Oscar Wilde put it, “True friends stab you in the front.”

A real friend is someone you can call at 3am if needed.

Someone who has refrigerator rights.

Someone who has your back.

May God bless you with rich friendships…

And may you be a rich friend as well.

And to all my amigos – I love you all.

Brilliant author and thinker, Leonard Sweet, shares a remarkable story in his must-read book, “So Beautiful” on the longing for human connection.

“A missionary writes of a leading a mission trip to the South African country of Namibia. The first thing his team noticed in the local village in which they were staying was that women had to walk every day to a well with a huge heavy bucket on their heads to fetch water.

“We immediately decided to do something about it.” he said.

Within two weeks flashy new water pipes were delivering water to every little hut in the village.

Within a week after the installation of the plumbing, the villagers removed all the pipes and piled them politely on the outskirts of the village.

When the missionary asked why they had plundered the plumbing and undone all their hard work, the Namibians explained that it is customary for women to walk to a well with other women sharing their experiences about life. Carrying heavy buckets on the head while chatting with friends. “It’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing.”

When the walk to the well was taken away and life was made “never so good,” life was really made ever so difficult.”

Never underestimate the power of relationships.  We’ll go to great lengths for them- even carry buckets of water on our heads.

We get this from God. After all, He is in relationship with himself as Father, Son, and Spirit. When He created humanity, He designed us for relationships- with Him and one another. It’s in the fabric of our being.

We were never meant to do life alone.

When two become one flesh and express their love through intimacy it may be the most harmonious and wondrous acts we humans can experience.

It’s profoundly beautiful.

It’s a gracious gift from the Creator to his beloved creation to be enjoyed.

The tragedy is how scandalously we’ve treated the gift of sexuality.

Religion has stained it with stigmas, limits, and regulations.

Self-centeredness has emptied it of its potential for meaning, beauty, and love.

What if we embraced the gift as it should be?

Two becoming one.

Naked and unashamed.

Hearts in harmony, bodies in rhythm, eyes in ecstasy.

Seeking to please one another, enjoy one another, for one another.

Marriage is the canvas in which we paint exotic portraits of passion.

We have liberty to explore new colors, try new shapes, or use familiar strokes.

Free from the shallow waters of self-interest and the nasty skid marks of religiosity.

Like heat is an expression of the sun, sexuality, like all of life, is to be an expression of the gospel.

The gospel calls us to live not for ourselves, but for others, beginning in our relationships.

We love recklessly knowing we drink from the endless fountain of God’s love.

Gospeling one another in everyday moments leads to gospeling one another in our intimate moments- and this produces magical moments.

The essence of gospel sex is this:  Love first.

We love first because Christ first loved us.

The raging waterfall of gospel sex comes from the rushing river of God’s love.

Our capacity to love one another is deeper than we can dream, more vivid than we can envision, and more exciting than we can imagine.

Our challenge as husbands and wives is to be selfless, passionate lovers who desires our beloved, cares for our beloved, and continually pursues our beloved for the rest of our lives.

All to the glory of God.

Ever had a pebble chip your windshield?

If you have, then you know that the first thing you do is get it repaired.

If you don’t, that small chip will turn into a big crack.

I’m guessing there are relationships in your life right now that have a small chip.

This leaves you with two options:

1) Ignore it (and hope it just goes away)

2) Take care of it (and don’t take your chances)

If you ignore it, odds are that small chip in your relationship will grow into a full-blown fracture.

If you take care of it, you may prevent that small chip from becoming a full-blown fracture.

Make the first move.

Take care of the chip.

And don’t do crack.