"Friends..."

This past Sunday afternoon Judi and I were invited to a special gathering of a very special young man. His name is Jason, he is a captain in the Army, and he is home on leave from his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. In seven days, he returns for his third.

I had the privilege and honor to be his basketball coach when he was in high school. Jason was a rebounding terror, believing that if the ball came off the rim it belonged to him. As good as he was in that sport, Jason excelled in football, so much so that he became a defensive standout at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee. He graduated with scholastic honors and a proud commission as a second lieutenant in the army. Upon graduation he began to fulfill his military obligation for the tuition assistance he received as an ROTC cadet. He has done so honorably.

Our church has constantly kept Jason, his parents, Rich and Janice, and his younger sister, Kristen, in our prayers these many months that Jason has been deployed, first in Afghanistan, then Iraq, then back again to Afghanistan. In seven months he will have fulfilled his obligation and will return to begin a family with his wife of a little more than a year. Our family and all his many friends will continue to pray for his well-being as well as for all the men that he has the responsibility for leading. If America's military is comprised of the best of us, then Jason is truly among the best examples of what a true man of genuine integrity and selfless service needs to emulate. I am proud to call Jason my friend, and although I am decades older than him, I am not ashamed to say that I look up to Jason as well. A better role model I would be hard pressed to find.

Rich and Janice have been special friends to our family for years. Their daughter and our daughter, Megan, literally grew up together. Kristen spent many a night in our home and we always found her, as we still do today, to be a pure delight. Janice is the head nurse in the heart surgery unit at the hospital in which I will have my up-coming by-pass surgery performed. She has faithfully promised that she will personally see to it that only their best nurses will attend to me while I am in their care. " I assure you," she said as we hugged good-bye, "you will be treated like a V.I.P." Of that, I have no doubt.

There are so very few things in life that have and maintain intrinsic value. For me I value my faith in God, my family, and my friends. None of these three gain in increased value unless one cultivates each. As one invests intentional time to God, to their family and to their friends, one grows beyond the bounds of oneself to discover and cherish the truth that none of us were put on this earth to do life alone. It is the investment in others that becomes an investment in ourselves, the dividends of which cannot be measured in worldly goods or materialistic accomplishments. This I know...on the day that I undergo my surgery, Jason on some desolate battlefield of Afghanistan will be praying for me and his Mom will be lovingly overseeing my recovery. I, on this side of my surgery and beyond, will be praying for Jason and his family. This is what makes God happy. This is what friends and family do. Nothing else matters.