Comrades

We were watching a movie about a teenager who wanted to be one of the popular girls and when she finally thought she'd made it into that elite group at school, she found out that she had trusted the wrong people.  They weren't her friends at all; they beat her severely, leaving her with the potential of both hearing and seeing deficits in one ear and one eye.

The movie didn't say it was based on a true story, but we've all heard so many of these kinds of stories, with the internet at the heart of the it, that it might as well have been.

The whole concept -- that of our comrades in life -- struck a chord with me.

Just imagine the people who are in the news a lot, the politicians, the Hollywood people, the business gurus and others, and in every single case they decide along the way who their closest confidantes are going to be.  They choose the people who have their ear and who also influence them in all kinds of decisions.

Hitler chose a band of confidantes.  They were equally enamored of power and also twisted in that strange way that defies a concrete definition.  They were twisted similarly to the way he was.

Some people stick with friends from school, having known them early in the game, before fame or fortune or power changed their lives.  It may just be an excellent effort on their part to stay grounded, to be the same person they always were.  Their close friends would call them out on it if they weren't.  John Kennedy was one of these.

Some include individuals they meet along the road to success. 

Some trust people who end up contributing to their demise.  And some isolate themselves because they don't trust anyone to be genuine. 

Those of us who don't make the evening news also choose friends and the decisions can have a major impact on our lives. 

It strikes me that if we love God first and foremost and if we put Him first in our lives, then we will know the answers we seek.  We will have the gift of discernment and sense the authenticity of people of faith with whom we share our time and space.

History is littered with people who picked the wrong comrades and they paid for it, but so did a lot of innocents. 

I heard a long time ago that we are judged by the company we keep, and yet Jesus shared time with tax collectors and others on the fringes of Jewish society, including lepers.  And yet, the ones who spent the most time with him, his most trusted comrades, were the twelve. 

The famous director of, "It's a Wonderful Life," and other films, Frank Capra, once said something so true.  "If you have one friend, you are rich.  If you have three friends, you are filthy rich." 

Today I'll give thanks for special, wonderful, caring friends, friends who were shown to me through God.  With friends, we are truly blessed.

Karen