A Story of Three Friends

We met 65 years ago!

From 1961 to 1964 we lived, studied and worked together in a dorm that placed seven nursing students in each apartment. We KNEW each other, as there was no place to put our secrets. Our relationships bonded by dreams, heartbreak, mischief, laughter and tears forged a life long familiarity that doesn’t really have a label.

The years in between hold seasons of separation with intentional reunion. Marriage, divorce, children, death of children, travel, health care and faith form the stories we are eager to share with each other. The stories themselves feel incomplete until they are shared. 

Our latest point of connection was yesterday. I was prepared but unprepared for what I encountered. 

I picked up Judie, who lives a few miles from me, and brought her to my home for a facetime call with Joann, who lives in Oak Harbor.

I knew Judie had progressive memory issues. I wasn’t prepared for her to need me to tell her to walk to the door so we could leave. I wasn’t prepared for her to ask me, as I was driving, if I knew how Roselyn was doing. 

I knew Joann now needed 24/7 0xygen. She calls it her ball and chain.  I wasn’t prepared to hear her say, as we prayed, that her time in this tent won’t be long. I know oxygen dependent COPD is end stage. I am not ready to release Jo to this prognosis. 

In stark contrast, I am currently processing a medical event of my own of a few weeks back. The initial interpretation was a probable TIA. However, MRI of brain, XRAY of chest, Echo of heart, Ultrasound of carotid have led my neurologist to say I am in a pinnacle of health. Although I live with a degree of unexplained pain, there are no known medical issues that are life threatening for me. A few years ago, I stopped highlighting my blond hair so it would turn grey and instead it turned brow.

So I grieve!  

 If, I had one peanut butter sandwich and these two friends were hungry, I would cut it in three. I can’t do that with my health.

I can’t explain why God, whom we each call Father through the blood of Jesus, has a different itinerary for each of our journeys.

But maybe I’m asking the wrong question. Maybe my desire to “even the playing field “is not supported by biblical teaching. 

I’m reminded of Peter’s question in John 21. Jesus had revealed to him that his future would include suffering. Peter then looks at his friend, John, and asked, “What about him?” He wondered if he was scheduled for a similar experience.  Jesus responded, “What is that to you, you follow me.” 

I’m tempted to repeat Peter’s question, only mine would be, “Why am I being spared?” Jesus is still saying, “What is that to you, you follow me.”

Psalm 139 teaches that “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”. The God who loves us equally has different agendas for each of us. 

Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. He will sustain each of us in our tent until that work is completed.

My call then is simply to follow Him. I give him my pen so He can finish this Story of Three Friends!!