I’ve had some friends make a big difference in my life. Here are a few…

Meet Paul. Paul and I met about nine years ago. We’ve served at two church’s together. I lived in his spare bedroom for a summer. He bunked at our house while moving to Florida. Our sons were born at the same hospital just a couple days apart. We’ve gone on mission trips together, survived student ministry camps together, blew off sessions at conferences together, and produced more events than should be allowed by law. Our kids still play together. We run into each other at Starbucks way too often. Sheer history makes him influential. The longer the friendship, the more Paul has the right to say and do things in my life to influence me. Paul is one of the most creative guys I know. I love how his creativity brings out new things in me. We’ve fought, said or not said things we later regretted, and got in each others’ faces about stuff. He’s probably the only one I’d let do that and still be my friend. Maybe that’s why he’s my friend. I’m different because of Paul.

Jodi and I were lifeguards at the beach for years during my high school and college years. Jodi was an influential friend because we were so different. I came from a stable, fairly privileged background. Jodi’s mom abandoned him early in life. His dad got so sick (and eventually died) while Jodi was a teenager that he couldn’t care for him. Jodi bounced around living with friends’ families until he dropped out of high school because he had no real home. Jodi went into the army for a tour. Jodi lived on his own, working as a beach guard to pay the bills for a garage apartment. Jodi and I became thick as blood partly because were ying and yang. There is something that God does in us when he puts to totally different people together. He was so influential because I saw what it meant to fight everyday just to survive. Jodi is now married and living in Daytona.

A bunch of high school and college friends. Why were they so influential? This may sound cynical, but they influenced me because once high school and college ended, so did our friendships. I learned a lesson or two about friendship from ones that I thought were really great, but didn’t exist two months after graduation. I don’t want to have convenient relationships.

I could give you more, but those are special influences (great and bad) in my life of friendships. I have relationships that are forming now that I hope become influential for me and for them. What friends are influential to you? Have you ever told them that?