OLD FRIENDS

 

Old friends can mean two things: either they’ve been friends for a long time, or they’re simply old. Sometimes it’s both. I’m blessed with many old friends. Some I’ve worked with, some from church, from school, from golf, from neighborhoods, and from other places. But they’ve been a wonderful part of my life.

My hope is that I’m as much a blessing to them as they are to me. I try to be. I keep in touch with phone calls, texts, and emails. Thankfully with old friends you don’t have to text before calling. And they often contact me as well. It’s especially nice now, since I can’t travel as far due to health limitations.

I do miss having lunch with my old friends as often as I used to. In fact, in a previous post I listed the many restaurants at which I’ve dined with my lunch buddies. There have been many, many good meals. And I can’t golf as much as I’d like. Over the years I’ve golfed at well over 200 courses around the country. (And my game improved about zero.) But the fun is in the fellowship and being able to see their birdies and eagles once in a while.

There’s a song by the Gaither’s entitled “Old Friends.” A few of the phrases are: “What a find, what a priceless treasure.” “Like a rare piece of gold; my friends make it great to grow old.” “I’m a rich millionaire in old friends.” That describes friendship very, very well.

Besides friends here on earth, God can also be our friend. Recall the great old hymn: “What a friend we have in Jesus.” And the Bible speaks of God’s friendship in the following verses.

James 2:23 (NKJV) "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.

Exodus 33:11 (NKJV) So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. 

John 15:15 (NKJV) Jesus said to the apostles: No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends.

The most magnificent thing about friendship is that it will continue into Heaven. We can spend eternity with our friends.

TODAY I AM "NORMAL" By Charles Richards, Licensed Counselor

 

Charlie and I met in Boy Scouts over 60 years ago. He’s been a friend, a brother in Christ, and a counselor to me as well. He’s always been perfectly normal in my opinion, but his writing reveals more.

This post has been a long time in coming. 

As long as I can remember, I have been overweight.  When I graduated from High School, I weighed 245 pounds; college 265.  Being the overachiever that I am, throughout my life, I gained another 100 pounds, reaching 365 pounds.

In the early 1990's I had weight loss surgery.  I got down to 214 pounds, but gained some weight back, stablelising at 245 pounds for a number of years.

Shortly before the pandemic, I was teaching a graduate counseling class in addictions.  One night, I was lecturing on Harm Reduction, which is where we teach those with an alcohol addiction to drink responsibly, i.e., you can have a beer at a party, but you don't need to get drunk.  As I was talking, I realized I have always rationalized my addiction to food...it goes like this:  "As a person addicted to food, I still have to participate in my addiction."  Driving home from that class, I decided to stop rationalizing and take control of my addiction.

Since that time, I have lost and maintained in the 170-180 RANGE.  Recently, I was looking up the ranges for classifying weight.  I was pleased that I have gone from MORBIDLY OBESE, to OBESE, to OVERWEIGHT.  I then saw that if I lost an additional 5 pounds (from the 170) I could be in the NORMAL range for my age, gender, height.

Today, I weigh 164 pounds.  I tell you that, not to gloat, not to say "look at me", but to say if I can do it, so can you!!

Addictions are hard, but through support and those in our tribe that cheer for our successes, we can do it!

I hope this is an encouragement to you.

See more at cdrtherapy.com. Or search for CDR COUNSELING.