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 sang, 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”
Jean and I accumulated many friends over the years, and
we were always so grateful for every one of them. I remember the time we sat
down over Christmas a few years ago and took time to re-read a huge stack of
cards and letters that we had received during a period when we were both
recovering from cancer surgeries. During that time, we again savored every line
of love and encouragement expressed within those letters from so many of
our “unfair weather” friends. We were once again 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 world steps out.” These are the kind of friends who will show up on
your doorstep at just the time when you need them the most.
One of the greatest “unfair weather” friends in the Bible was Onesiphorus,
a little-known friend of the Apostle Paul. Onesiphorus visited Paul while in
prison and he “refreshed him and was not ashamed of his chains” (2 Tim 1:16). Onesiphorus
certainly lived up to his name which meant “bringing profit,” and he did just
that for Paul. Onesiphorus 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 Onesiphorus 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 we have in our
life, those who have “loved us at all times.”
Why not drop a note or
make a call to one of those “unfair weather” friends and let them know how much
you love and appreciate them? If you do, you may discover the truth as one
friend said to another: “To be your friend is to possess a great gift.”
Yours faith and
friendship,
Pastor Tom
Enjoy listening to Unfair
Weather Friends
Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard - Unfair Weather Friend ...
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