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| Image: Courtesy of Suresh Ram / All Rights Reserved |
Summary: The greatest love of all is demonstrated when someone is willing to lay aside personal agendas to help a friend in time of need.
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I’m not sure whether or not it was a “Senior Moment” or just plain carelessness that night. All I remember is feeling a sharp pain in my right foot and left side of face scrapping across the asphalt. I had tripped over a cement parking divider as I was walking from my car to enter a restaurant. I was on my way to meet a group of friends for coffee following our prayer meeting. But instead of coffee, pie and fellowship, God orchestrated a night of compassion, prayer and the ultimate sacrifices of a friend.
I don’t know exactly how long I lay on the pavement, bruised and bleeding in the dark. But at some point, a group of young ladies found me and ran inside the restaurant to get my friends. Within seconds, two sets of gentle hands were laid upon my body and intercession on my belalf was lifted up to the Lord. Bystanders, I call them, "Angels in Disguise," got blankets out of their cars to wrap around my shivering body, by this time in a state of shock.
The ambulance rushed me to the Emergency Room where my friends were already waiting. They stayed with me during the entire examination and treatment, never leaving my side. I could hear their verbal prayers continuing even when the medical staff was present.
When the doctor finished his examination, he said, “Man oh man! You sure missed the bullet this time. There are no broken or fractured bones. You were lucky! You should go out and by a lotto ticket.” My friends laughed and kept trying to tell him, “It was Jesus, not luck,” but he wasn’t interested.
Even though it was already late into the night and Monday morning was just around the corner, my friends not only brought me home, but drove my car home as well. Then one of the dearest sister’s in Christ anyone could have decided to spend the night with me to continue caring for my needs. She went to the store and brought groceries, cooked enough food for the week, and stayed awake much of the night, fearing I might need further assistance.
The actions of these two women profoundly demonstrate the meaning of the Lord Jesus words in John 15:13, “…the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.” My friends had lives, jobs, plans, all of which they were willing to put aside, in order to minister God’s love in the form of urgent, practical service. I will never forget their kindness to me.
Have you ever had an occasion to experience such self-sacraficing love of a freind? If so, tell someone how grateful you are, not only to your friends, but to the God who gave them to you. Then, determine to be the kind of friend “willing to lay down your life for your friends.
