Friends

I love that we can be friends.  We all know there are friends on different levels but it special when we get to spend time with one another all the same.  Let’s talk about that…

Last night was one of the most fun times I have had in years.  The Gold City Gadsden Homecoming  put on by Heritage of Gold Concerts was a smashing success in so many ways.  When I got a call from Jonathon Wilburn almost three months ago about this night I started getting excited.  Sure enough, all my expectations were met and more.  I have not played that many songs for that many hours in years.  We got to introduce our girls to people who used to feed me and keep clothes on my back 20+ years ago.  My family was there and all of my Gold City brothers minus just a few and one in particular.  I miss Doug. Always will.  Jordan LeFevre was the perfect stand-in.  Killed it!  At the end of the night we sat around my Folks kitchen table till the wee hours of the morning.  What a night.  What great friends.

What it re-affirmed in me was how important friendship is.  Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”  Over the years we have gone through so much together.  You name it, we have faced it.  So, to be able to stand together and help give a crowd of people a reason to smile, rejoice, laugh, worship and reconnect was absolutely wonderful.  The music was just like longtime friendship.  Once we remembered the right key and got the first words out, all the harmony and rhythm came back just like we never stopped.

In a little on stage conversation, Jay and I agreed that those years together were a good season, but, seasons come and go.  I have to admit, I took my Bible on-stage and set it on my amp, just in case.  In every song I anticipated an opportunity to preach.  I was dying to jump in when we sang He Said! and tell them what THIS old time preacher would say.  I tell you it was just like a fire shut up in my bones!   I am forever thankful for that the Lord allowed me those years and blessed me with those friends but playing bass for me is now just something that I enjoy from time to time.  See, my best friend, whom I do talk to every day, He has asked me to do something far more important.  Today I am not a bass player who preaches, I am a Preacher who occasionally plays bass and I love it that way.

I know this is not a fire ball sermon but allow me the opportunity to be a bit sappy, my friends.  That’s what real friends do, right?  We allow each other to be ourselves.  Our hope and prayer for you is that God would give you a great assembly of friendly acquaintances, a room full of really good friends, and handful of close friends you might consider brothers and sisters.  But, most of all our prayer is that we would all appreciate our friend that sticketh closer than a brother (Prov 18:24 KJV), our best friend, Jesus Christ.  Take some time to reach out to your friends (not your fakebook followers) and tell them how much you appreciate your friendship.  Pick up a phone and call them, don’t text or put it on your timeline.  Be personal, be real, be there for each other.  Be a friend, for Christ has been a friend to us.

God Bless You, my friend!

BroAdamB