" A FRIEND IN NEED "

Fourteen year old Sunny loved it when her grandfather picked her up from school. He could make her laugh with his cornball jokes or keep her mesmerized with his yarns.

“Sweetie, what do you call a handicap sticker in Oklahoma?” Sunny didn’t reply but just smirked waiting for the answer; “a high school diploma.” Sunny let out a groan with a huge smile.

Her grandfather then asked how school was going and Sunny replied; “Good, but Pop-Pop, we have a new English Comp substitute teacher and she wants us to write stories all the time. I’ve got an assignment to write a story about a friend in need but none of my friends need anything except new clothes or shoes.” They both laughed and then Sunny asked; “Pop-Pop, you have any friend in need stories?” Her grandfather put his hand one his chin in a thinking motion and said; “You know Sweetie, I do and began……….

AJ had been home from WWII nearly four months and worked at the Carnation Milk plant in Muskogee, OK where his wife, Jenny, also worked.

One morning he was in the Severs Hotel cafe with his old friend, Sam discussing the war, politics and family. Sam had not been in the service, because when the war started in 1941, his parents had been in very poor health; his father with a bad heart, and his mother with cancer. He was needed at home to care for them and operate the farm. His parents had since died, and the farm was now his and wife, Maggie.

When AJ, Sam’s best friend since childhood, had returned after flying the B-17 in the war and the bodies of the deceased Jones boys along with Pete Morris came home with hooks where his hands should have been, Sam felt guilty. He felt he had not done his part for the war effort, and in his own eyes, he was diminished.

But that day, it was AJ who seemed depressed. Sam asked him what was bothering him. "You seem down in the dumps, today, AJ," he said. "I can't see what could be bothering you. You came through the war without a scratch, you got a beautiful wife and a baby on the way, you got a good job, what's the problem?"

"Sally’s mother is in bad shape," said AJ. "We're going to have to take her in, and with the baby coming we don't have the room."

"Can't build a room on?" asked Sam.

"With the war going on no lumber is available," said AJ. "I've tried here, Tahlequah, Wagoner, Okmulgee, and there won't be any more shipments for the duration. Who knows how long that will be?"

That evening, Sam finished the milking and sat on the front porch with Maggie. "Days are getting longer," he said. "Man could get half a day's work done after five o'clock."

"Better put your Pa's car up," said Maggie. "Radio says storms tonight."

Sam’s father had bought a new 1941 Ford just before his first heart attack, and the car was now Sam’s. He had built a new garage for it just before Christmas, and tonight he congratulated himself on getting it built before the lumber shortage. He didn't even know, until AJ told him about the shortage that morning.

Sam drove the car into the new garage and latched the door. He walked back around the house to the front porch. Something was nagging at his mind, but he couldn't define it. He shook it off and sat on the porch with Maggie until darkness fell. They could see lightning in the West, and the wind started to rise. They went in the house to listen to the news of the war on the radio then went to bed.

The next morning, Sam arrived at the cafe and AJ was already there. Sam asked; "Still haven't found any lumber, I guess?"

"No, I asked everybody at work, and nobody knows of any. I don't know what we'll do." But that nagging in Sam’s mind defined itself. "I found the lumber for you," Sam said.

"You did? Where?" AJ was delighted.

"Fella I know. He'll let you have it free, you being a veteran and all. He doesn't seem to want you to know who he is, so I'll have to haul it in for you. It's good lumber, fir and pine, cut different lengths and got nails in it, but that's no problem. Tell you what, you get your foundation poured, and I'll bring you a pickup load everyday and help you build it. We'll have it done before the baby gets here."

"That's a good friend for you," AJ said to himself. That evening he came home with sacks of cement in his pickup.

AJ dug and poured the foundation, and when it was ready, he let Sam know.

"Fine," said Sam, "I'll bring the first load over and be there when you get home from work."

Sam appeared every evening with a load of lumber, and the two men worked until it was too dark to see. Sometimes Maggie came too, and the women sat in the house listening to the radio or talking about babies or Sally's ailing mother, their sentences punctuated by the sound of the hammers outside.

Over the next few weeks the new room took shape and was finished and roofed. "Where did you get the shingles?" asked AJ.

"Same fella," answered Sam. "He's got all kinds of stuff."

AJ didn't push. Lots of older folks liked to help out the young veterans anonymously. It was fairly common.

Then it was done! The women painted and fixed the room up inside then moved Jenny's mother in. The men went back about their business.

At supper one evening, AJ told Sally he would like to do something nice for Sam and Maggie, since they had been so helpful with the new room. "I know," said Sally, brightly. "Maggie likes those big wooden lawn chairs like Aunt Birdie has on her lawn. Why not get them a couple of those?"

"Good idea," agreed AJ, and the next Saturday he bought a couple at and loaded them into his pickup.

When AJ got out to Sam’s farm, there was no one home, Sam and Maggie having gone into Tulsa for shopping. "That's ok," AJ thought, "I'll just put them in the garage in case it rains."

He drove around the house and into the driveway that led to Sam’s new garage.

The garage was gone! Only the foundation remained to show where it had been!

AJ put the chairs on the front porch and drove home, tears in his eyes.

The two men are now in their mid-eighties and are still the best of friends. They have never spoke of the incident. How could they? There was nothing to say.

Sunny, holding back tears said; “Great story Pop-Pop!” Then it dawned on her and she asked; “Pop-Pop, isn’t your first and middle name Augustus James?

The vast majority of us were taught about God and Jesus with words like; “redemption,” “atonement,” “repentance,” and “born again” about what it means to live out the offer of salvation made available through the life and death of Jesus Christ.

“Friendship” is not used since “friendship” is primarily used in non-religious terms such as we eat and drink with friends, we take vacations with friends and we are there when a friend is in need. However, doesn’t the Lord fit this description as well? Isn’t He always with us? Isn’t he our answer when we are in need? Don’t we confide in Him? Yet as the quote from the Gospel of John teaches us friendship with the Lord is the ultimate relationship with God and one another. (John 15:13-15)

Think about the way we feel around friends. Maybe we get a sense of comfort and safety. Perhaps we’re joyful or get the feeling we’re where we’re supposed to be. Being around friends often brings us peace, and we find ourselves wanting to be around them more. Just as we invest in our friendships, a relationship with Jesus requires investment as well.

Jesus calls us His friend so let us start anew by spending more time with our friend Jesus by studying His word, through daily conversation and helping His (and our) other friends!

Heavenly Father, thank You for wanting us to have a thriving, two-way relationship with You. Lord, thank You for calling us Your friends. Let us sing and dance with joy while telling others “What A Friend We Have In Jesus.”