Day Forty-Two

BRAVE PEOPLE NEED PEOPLE

You are better off to have a friend than to be all alone, because then you will get more enjoyment out of what you earn. If you fall, your friend can help you up. But if you fall without having a friend nearby, you are really in trouble.

—ECCLESIASTES 4:9–10 CEV

One Fourth of July, I was exactly one week from moving from Nashville to Edinburgh, Scotland. I was terribly sad to leave my community. I knew God had said to go to Edinburgh. I just was brokenhearted to leave my people.

So on that sunny day in July, our crew spent the day tubing down the Buffalo River. We laughed as people got flipped out of their tubes by rapids, and we brought enough snacks to float all the way to Florida and never get hungry or thirsty. It began to rain, and we laughed again as everything we had worked so hard to keep dry got soaked. It was one of those bookmark days, the kind you will tell your kids about.

We got back home just in time to clean up and reconvene for the fireworks show. Walking toward the parking deck to get a good look at the fireworks, we were just a friendship amoeba—a blob of people. To my left, Curt—a production manager for a local band and one of the most responsible and kind men in my life. To my right, Lyndsay—a fantastic writer and one of my best friends.

As the tears began to puddle right on top of my lower eyelids, I slid my left hand into the bend of Curt’s right elbow. We smiled. The tears rolled slowly down my cheeks. If there was a way to stop them, I didn’t know it and couldn’t have thought through those steps clearly anyway. I said to Lynds, “Hold my hand.” And so we walked, the three of us, linked by my sorrow, to see a fireworks show.

I knew with my whole heart that God wanted me to move, but I mourned leaving my people. As sad as that part of my life was, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

It’s easier to have a relationship with your Netflix queue. Why? Because you don’t have to say any painful good-byes. You don’t have any friction with your Netflix shows. If you don’t like a show, you drop it. But friendship takes work. Friendship takes courage.

We all need people. You’ve got to be brave and let yourself love people. And to make brave choices, you have got to have the support of your own friendship amoeba.

Friendship takes work. Friendship takes courage.

BE BRAVE: Send a letter to a friend who has been there for you before. Thank him or her. Tell your friend how much he or she means to you.