I had an opportunity to be a visitor at a meeting of a local Christian Writers Group tonight. It was quite impressive how much talent was represented there, from our little town, people who had written children's books, magazine articles, books on Christian apologetics, lots of stuff. Since I was a visitor, the moderator asked the person who invited me to make the introduction. I did my usual - immediately turn red and hope for the rapture. But, it didn't come - at least I hope it didn't. I'm still here. Never mind, I know it didn't happen because Bobbie's still here too. Whew! Scared myself for a moment. Anyway, he started the introduction with the age old, "I'd like to introduce my friend, David Kight". That's good, used to that, nothing new. But, then he paused and said, "And he's not just a friend, like an acquaintance, no, he's not like that at all, he's a true friend, a real friend". Wow, something new has been added - a true friend, a real friend. It set me to thinking - What's the difference, friend, real friend, same-same right? No, it's not the same, not by a long shot. When I stop to think, I've had lots of friends - you know, those people who know about me, where I live, where I work, so on and so on. But, I don't have a lot of real friends. I mean true friends, real friends like the Bible talks about. Especially, in the church setting, I have found over the years its difficult, almost impossible to develop true, real friendship. But this is crazy. In church we're all true, real friends - aren't we? We even call each other brother and sister. Doesn't that mean we've reached that steep plateau of true, real friendship? Maybe for you, but it hasn't always worked that way for me. You can tell a true friend that you blew off your quiet times last week and went through your old Beatle albums. You can tell a true friend that some days you find it hard, almost impossible to be nice, in fact some days it just feels good to be a little bit mean. You can tell a true friend that you did that thing again that you try so hard not to do and swore you'd never do but do anyway sometimes. You can go to lunch with a true friend and not ask the blessing so loud that you make a baby cry 4 tables away. In fact, you can go to lunch with a true friend and not a say the blessing at all because he knows how thankful you are just to be alive. You can tell a true friend that sometimes you laugh at Larry the Cable Guy and you can tell a true friend that sometimes you cry every time you watch Toy Story and the girl cowboy doll sings about being tossed aside by her owner. You can tell a true friend that sometimes you think you hear the audible voice of God and you can tell a true friend that sometimes you wonder if He's even there at all. Most church friends that I've had aren't that kind of friend - but I wish they were. I bet Jesus was that kind of friend, a true friend to the disciples. I bet, somehow, he let them know that they didn't have to play act when they were around him; they didn't have to always pretend like they had things together or that they knew what steps to take or that they weren't really afraid of the dark. I bet Jesus was a true friend. And you know what, I bet He still is!!