He Calls Me friend...I Call Him My Everything

When I officially began adulthood, the kind lady in Human Resources told me that I couldn’t get a staff parking pass because I was only working part time. However, she assured me that I could get a discounted rate because I was an employee of West Virginia University. Clearly she didn’t know that she was talking to a highly skilled parking ticket escape artist. My skills began two years ago when I absolutely refused to pay over three hundred dollars for a parking pass that only lasted nine months. Instead, I stretched the truth a wee bit to the parking attendant responsible for keeping students like me from parking in designated areas. I made friends with the valet staff that parked patient’s cars outside of the Health Science Center and the Mary Baab Cancer Center. And more importantly, I learned early on how to strategically place the one day parking pass under my dash board so the date couldn’t be seen from outside my car. (I have quite a collection of Health Science Center one day passes in my car) Friday morning, as I waited in the line of cars to receive a parking permit from the ticket booth that sat at the bottom of the hill; I hoped I wouldn’t be asked questions that would make me have to stretch the truth even further. (And I prayed that the woman I had seen 3 times already in a week wasn’t on to me.) When I approached the booth I was relieved to see a man behind the Plexiglas and as I rolled down my window; I was reunited with my favorite valet parking attendant. My friend Nick was now working in the ticket booth opposed to valet parking because of a blood clot in his leg. After a brief early morning chat (the line of cars behind me was now extremely long) he said, “I will see you Monday. Actually, knowing you I’ll see you all month.” As I drove off, I was laughing hysterically. I was laughing because my legacy as the student who tempted fate (and tempted the patrol officer who handed out twenty dollar parking tickets) by defying the parking system remained almost a year later. I was laughing because I knew my ritual of bringing doughnuts to the valet parking staff every month had just been reinstated. I was laughing because it truly does pay to have friends in high places.

I am almost certain that I may be the only person who considers the Health Science Center parking staff friends in high places. I am also certain that regardless of whether or not you ever become a parking ticket escape artist; you have a friend in a high place.  Yes friends, I am referring to my absolute best friend ever: Jesus. Can you honestly wrap your brain around the fact that Jesus calls us His friend? The King of Kings calls us His friend! Because we are His friend; He has our back. He is sitting on His throne waiting to show everyone in the world the power of His friendship. He is waiting to reward us for the relationship we have created with Him. If you allow Jesus to be your very best friend; He will meet your every need. He will silence all of your fears. He will make your darkest days brighter (He will make your best days brighter too). He will bring out the very best in you. He will be able to complete your every thought. He will understand you when the rest of the world seems to think you have finally lost your mind. (Maybe I am the only one whose friends think I am crazy at times) He will make sure to provide a miracle every time you wish you had an Earthly friend in a high place. There is no greater friendship than Jesus friends. He is all we truly need. He will never abandon us and we will always be at the center of His heart. Do you need a miracle in your life? Do you need to feel the embrace of a true friend? Or are you weary because you feel that Jesus has forgotten you in the mist of your darkest days? If you are, fall on your knees and call out to your best friend. Pour out your heart to Him and I promise you that before you stand up; He will satisfy every ounce of your being. He won’t have you laughing but He will have you saying, “The ritual of talking to God every day has been reinstated.” He will have you saying, “My legacy as a friend of Jesus will remain forever.” He will have you saying (and telling others), “it pays to have a friend in a high place.”

Verse to remember: John 15:12-17 ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.