I believe friendship to be one of the most critical needs for health and well being. It looks in love and forgiveness to his fellow with a view of truth, compassion, understanding, and care in ways that are both brutally honest and totally generous that would seem impossible and contradictory between two people. A deep to deep friendship is amazing. It is like the foxhole friends of war. This relationship can overcome all odds or racism, religion, culture, or any other adversity which would normally destroy a relationship. It is an unmeasurable power of life.

Anyone who has had a foxhole friend, in or out of war, can attest to its ability to be honest to a fault and completely forgiving simultaneously. The friend can see the anger of his friend, the justice of his efforts, the wrath of his enemies, and the survival processes at once with a more than fair prediction of outcomes and ongoing goals, even though they have to be described one feature at a time for the understanding of others. Friendship is a highly complex reality worthy of all the work it may take to create it, have it, walk in it, and establish it for a lifetime.

I am currently reading Isaiah. He must have been this type of friend toward God. The entire book gives a comprehensive image of a complicated God who has a complicated relationship with mankind. There are descriptions of anger, frustration, discipline, love, compassion, promises and so much more that defy anyone’s ability to oversimplify a powerful, multifaceted relationship between God and a being God created and loves. Isaiah saw the complexity of that which was understandable and that which was beyond understanding at the same time and did not consider it a hinderance to deep relationship. I may not understand God, but I can see why He would have picked someone like Isaiah to be a prophet.