Jumpin Jack was the town alcoholic. He lived this role for a small mountain town in western North Carolina. The major part of the town was one block long on one side of the street. The town phone book was part of a regional book and only had three pages of double spaced entries so you could add your friends from outside of town. I lived there during the first stages of recovering from traumatic life events and needed to be away from the rest of my life.

I was always impressed with the way the town treated Jumpin Jack. He was a part of them, had his own seat at the table for community events, and was well known and well treated by the town officer who had to take people fifteen miles north or south to a bigger town to arrest them and put them in jail. Jumpin Jack knew he belonged though he was not proud of his life and knew the town didn’t like the way he lived. He felt like an outcast, even as he was included. That doesn’t seem to be the way we treat others now.

Somewhere it seems that we’ve lost the sense that we are a part of each other and that no one is perfect. We are all imperfect people in an imperfect world. We are each gifted with different talents, different understandings, and differing abilities. No one stands alone. We can see in culture, politics, all the way down to families, that division destroys. Love and forgiveness employs the ability to have relationship and community. It should not be surprising that the cross, forgiveness, is the center of the Christian faith because forgiveness is necessary for any relationship to exist, even between the closest of friends.

The power of deep friendship is the automatic and total degree of forgiveness. You know you have a deep friend when, no matter the length of time apart or the hardships experienced, the friendship remains fresh, alive, and healthy. Foxhole friends are those men who have fought in foxholes together in real or circumstantial wars. Their friendship surpasses all known barriers to closeness because their lives and survival have depended on each other. They have bonded in layers of caring that most cannot imagine.

I believe Jesus wants us to know and experience this level of loving and friendship. We are all fighting wars in our lives, in our circumstances and in our selves. Jesus is in that foxhole with us. We can depend on Him. We are loved beyond our comprehension.