Stranger than fiction.

     I went into the blog to check on some posts and couldn't find the one I wrote this morning.  I'm wondering where it went? If any of you have seen my post could you please send it home?  In the meantime I will write another.  That is unless I've run out of my allocated word count for the day.  I'll take the chance. 
     I have had the pleasure of my best friend at my home for the last 5 days.  What a wonderful experience.  Because we live quite a distance from each other our contact is limited to calls, texts and emails.  Some of you are aware that I've got a soft place in my heart that I let come out to play from time to time.  It's not that my heart wouldn't like to play all the time because it would love that.  With my friend here our hearts could and did play to their content.  History has list after list of who was friends with whom, what they had in common or how they injured each other.  No one ever chooses a friend who will hurt us.  Sometimes we fall into those places and need a good friend to reach in and be that helping hand.  My friend and I met there and there and there.  Lives intertwined with hurt and healing. 
     My life (and possibly your too) is couched between political correctness (which isn't by the way) and familial expectations while being surrounded with a sea of witnesses that expect us to live our lives as they design our lives to be.  I'm not very good at any of the three.  I'll take Biblical correctness over political correctness any day.  I'll exchange my familial expectations for Biblical expectations in a heart beat.  Because of my stand on life there are few who tolerate the likes of me.  When someone knows your soul they know that this is sacred ground.  In this day and age of tolerance and ignorance my sacred ground takes on even more meaning in my life and the lives of those who know me.  My friend and I have a lot of "likes" in common but not all areas of our lives.  But we know each other's soul.  The rest doesn't really matter.
     Within this relationship of quite a few years we have both needed to be there for the other when disaster came upon us.  When I think of David and Jonathan in the Old Testament their relationship is the closest I can come to have as an example.  Both David and Jonathan would have given their lives for each other.  They didn't start out at that point.  That came over time and circumstances.  Remember that these deep intertwined lives take a long time to go from point a to point b.  The greatest element that we share is our faith in Jesus Christ.  We not only are on the same page but we have a notarized copy of that page.  When you have a relationship with someone whose faith is as strong as yours two people cannot go wrong.  Why?  Because the love of God in Christ Jesus is most important of all pages. 
     Our world is unfair.  Girlfriends hold hands and it's expected.  Girl friends can say "I love you." to their girlfriends without any backlash.  Girlfriends can hug and the world is okay with that as well.  Men are NOT encouraged to hold hands in private or public.  Men are thought weird if those words were uttered between friends.  A manly hug is okay as long as there is an arm crosswise between the bodies.  Our world is unfair.  It has been, will be, and people will miss out because of these "rules". 
     So, I told my friend "I love you."  I held his hand (looked more like a handshake).  I gave him a hug goodbye when I dropped him off to catch his plane.  I'm sure that there are others out there who have experienced the same.  Maybe you were even accepted by your family or peer group or co-workers?  I would hope so.  But I know this level of affection and love has it's root in the creation of mankind.  It's been around for a long time.  For me, I'll be stranger than fiction.  It's okay.  Maybe my example will help some of you who are on the edge.  I hope so.