Friends

I have a tenuous relationship with the telephone, at best.
This compulsive problem makes communication harder than it has to be and most often; left in the cold and forgotten faster than a pair of old mittens.

Sometimes; armed with no watch, telephone, glasses, shoes, or clue I wander off into the great unknown.  Sometimes, for weeks.  This last time, was probably the longest though.  Two full months.  During these months I lost touch with friends that lived less than ten miles away as well as friends that lived over seven hundred miles away.  It was a pretty lonely day when I emerged from my coma; suntoasted and smelly- but seemingly, friendlessly out of the loop.

This feeling of loneliness sticks with a person, it makes the next phone call that much sweeter-and the lack there-of that much more frustrating.  I've been thinking a lot lately about how bad of a friend I am not to people, but to God.  I say, "I love you, Jesus," just to step over my bible to get into bed.  I tell Him I want to spend time with him, only to settle down in front of the television to watch a show. 

Can we call ourselves friends of God when we don't spend time with Him?  You may ask, "How do I spend time with the Prince of Peace,"--after all, even with his back turned to the face of the Lord; Moses came down from the mount with a glowing visage.  (And friends, I gotta tell ya--I'm lacking in the "being as awesome as one of those Old Testament dudes," department).

Lacking as I do (and always seeking constructive criticism, ideas, and recommendations), this is what I've come up with:

>>We are supposed to be praying continually.  Someone splashes water on you on your way to school? Pray for them.  See a homeless man? Pray for him.  See a woman with a giant baby in her belly? Pray that the baby comes to know God, experiences mercy, etc.  There should always be something that we're praying for; talk to God.
>>We are supposed to fellowship.  Human beings weren't meant to be alone.  We weren't made to separate and live as islands.  "No man is an island."  Youth group, Small Group Study, Bible Study- even listening to an appropriate radio station.
>>READ YOUR BIBLE!  Some people may say that you don't have to go to church and/or read your bible to know God.  But the Bible is the literally the bound edition of Christ.
>>Find a Church, the fellowship thereof, allows us to realize that there are other people out there doing what we do, whom we can ask questions -eat with, play with, learn with.  Though it may not be your first choice (or even your denomination) there are even electronic churches that record their sermons and put them out for mass consumption.  Though it may not be a preferred mechanism; it's still a mechanism-if you get one tiny thing out of a pastors sermon; they've done their job.
>>There is a place and time for tradition.  God is everywhere.  Blink; he's the air between your eyelashes.  You don't have to be in a prayer closet to talk to God.  You don't have to be begging and asking for something to say, "Hey Jesus, I'm thinking of you."  This is what he longs for; to be the bread and life of our day- and for us to think on him throughout the day.  If he didn't want us to speak to him and perform the actions of loving him; he would have created automatons-- it sure would have saved him a lot of heartache.