———————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Summer is almost over and college is ready to start. Like other families, we dropped off our daughter yesterday to her college. This year she is about to move in a new dormitory with her good friends that she met in her first year. Pinpointed the load of stuff that we need to unload, I asked my sons to come with us in order to help my aged back during unloading.

Entered the dormitory, we realize that we are late, because the other girls have moved in already. There is only one bed left, which is very close to open windows with a very awkward orientation. My wife said, “We have got a bad one again – a bed with a difficult and awkward position next to the door and window”.

An initial look of the room seems to be older and a lot smaller than last year’s room and space. My immediate reaction was this is another rip-off from college. 🙂 Later after we unloaded my daughter’s stuff, we stopped by a neighboring “brand new” dormitory for a dinner. When we saw its good and new air conditioned room and cafeteria, we sighed again. Well, sometimes it is not by choice – as my colleague always said.

The good part is I didn’t hear my daughter complained much. She told us that they had to go through a lottery system in order to get a new room. She thought it is understandable that is not easy to get a “good room” for 4 girls. Considering her situation, I agreed with her. I guess she is thrilled to live with her other good friends, regardless of the condition she had. This reminds me of an important perspective of good friends.

I think most of us would agree with me that we need friends to support / accompany us throughout our life. Friendship probably is one of the most important relationships, in addition to family, that we all need to develop in our life. Good friends, however, are sometimes hard to find. Just look back your past and count how many good friends you have. You may be amazed that it could be just “handful” or may be NONE – we may have many “old friends” but none of them is “good friend”. Isn’t this something revealing?

What constitutes a good friend? You may have your own standard and criteria. But, there is one person who is unparallel by others – He is our Lord, Jesus! There is one hymn called “What a friend I have in Jesus” which is one of my personal favorites. Its first stanza gives us a picture of how a good friend we can have:

耶穌是我親愛朋友，背負我罪擔我憂，

何等權利能將萬事，帶到主恩座前求！

多少平安屢屢失去，多少痛苦白白受，

皆因我們未將萬事，帶到主恩座前求。

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear!

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

My dear brothers and sisters, I do hope that you have good friends in this world to accompany you and to support you. Sincerely I plead to you: to realize that the only true good friend is our Lord Jesus Christ. Please talk to Him today and you shall know…..