Six Degrees to Jesus

As I gathered among friends tonight to celebrate Amy Helms 25th birthday, one of the party guests inquired of the origins of our giant web of friendship. We proudly retraced the paths that linked us all together, and realized that all of us met through a "christian connection," including church and Bible study. We're all a little content and pleased that we are blessed with friends who share our foundation, when I blurted out, "it's like six degrees to Jesus!" You know, like "six degrees to Kevin Bacon."

But it occurred to me on the way home tonight, there is a reason certain friendships have rooted and remained strong, and why others have fizzled sadly. The close friendships I have in my life all have one thing in common---Christ-Centricity (I just made that up...do you like?).

I've mentioned this before, but I have nine very close friends/sorority sisters from college, and the ten of us refer to ourselves as the "Menagerie." We all pledged together, and during four yeras in ADPi, the ten of us tempered our friendship bond. We kind of became legendary, and the pledge classes preceding and following our own know about the Menagerie. It always seemed to puzzle people that we have remained such close friends after we graduated from college. As in the natural progression of life, people move on to different life stages and make new sets of friends, effectively replacing their old set. But for some reason, the ten of us have managed to remain close, despite our ups and downs, and our growing pains. We're all in different stages of life too---some are married, some are single, some have babies (both running around and in their tummies), some are changing jobs, some are happily employed, and some have moved away. It's not been easy to find common ground in our busy lives---but we will always have common ground in our relationship with Christ. I truly believe Christ is the reason any of us have made the effort to remain friends, and He is the reason we've made it through some really tough times over the years.

I'm starting to see the same kind of pattern in my relationship with the girls in my Bible study and my church friends. When you function in a Christ-centric relationship, it compels you to place your friends above yourself. You want to see them prosper and grow. It gives you an opportunity to facilitate accountability from a Biblical standpoint. You understand that when one of these friends says they'll pray for you, that it's not just lipservice---they really will pray for you.

I don't say enough how thankful I am for my friends. And I certainly don't thank the Lord for placing these people in my life. It's inspiring---if the Lord can place a hedge around my life full of God-fearing family and friends, surely He can bring me a God-fearing husband. Why should I doubt Him?