New Monmouth Musings: Are You an “Unfair Weather” Friend?

Dear Friends

Those who know me well, know that I love country music, real country, or classic country as it is better known. I love Johnny, and Randy, and Willie, and Merle and Waylon and George Jones and the like.  A few months ago, I called out to my good friend Alexa, and said “Alexa, play me some Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson,” and she did. And while I know most every song that Willie and Merle ever sung, I didn’t know the one she played. I listened as my old friends musically reminisced about what it means to be  “unfair weather” friends which happens to be the title of the song.

In that song two of country's greatest musical troubadours beautifully define the meaning of friendship. Read and listen to their words.

“I might wind up stuck out on some old forgotten highway
Somehow you'll show up and sure enough be ‘goin' my way

You're always there, right where you've always been
My come whatever, unfair weather friend

I don't have to wonder where'll you be if I should need you
All I have to do is close my eyes and I can see you
Always there, right where you've always been

Sometimes this whole world is my worst enemy
And I know where to run when it gets to me
No one else but you can make it all make sense
My come whatever, unfair weather friend”

I have accumulated a lot of friends over my years of ministry and how grateful I am for each one of them. Over Christmas, Jean and I took the time to re-read a huge stack of cards and letters that we had received during 2019, a time when we were both recovering from cancer surgeries. During those two hours of reading, we once again savored every line of your love, and inwardly gave thanks for the love and encouragement of so many “unfair weather” friends. We both were reminded of the fact that friends can be wonderful medicine for the soul.

One is lucky to have friends, but one is especially blessed to have  “unfair weather” friends who, as one writer expressed it, “will  step in when the whole word steps out.” These are the kind of friends who will show up on your doorstep at the  time you need them the most.

One of the greatest “unfair weather” friends in the Bible was Onesiphorous, a little-known friend of the Apostle Paul. Onesiphorous visited Paul while in prison and he “often refreshed him and was not ashamed of his chains” (2 Tim 1:16). Onesiphorous certainly lived up to his name which meant “bringing profit,” and he did just that for Paul.  Onesiphorous left his family in Ephesus and traveled a great distance to Rome, spending two months encouraging Paul while he was imprisoned. He expended his time and money and risked his own life to make the long arduous journey to bring food, clothing, and money to assist his “unfair weather” friend.

To possess an “unfair weather friend like Onesiphorous is a wonderful treasure.

Proverbs 17:17 reminds us that “a friend loves at all times,” and this is the perfect description of an “unfair weather” friend.

Today let’s thank God for the “unfair weather” friends in our life who have “loved us at all times,” and let’s in turn recommit ourselves to loving others in the same way-“at all times.” Why not drop a note or make a call to one of your “unfair weather” friends and let them know how much you love and appreciate them? And while doing that, why not begin to cultivate some new “unfair weather” friends whom you can love and who will love you in return. If you do, one day they may say to you as one friend said to another: “To be your friend is to possess a great gift.”

Yours in faith and friendship,

Pastor Tom