I am in Dallas today. I headed down this morning and will not return home until late Wednesday evening. I have been tied up with various clients preparing for some training that I am doing down here and among other things, I received a note that one of my passwords on an email account was about to expire. I know that this may sound a little crazy, but many of my clients provide me with email addresses so that I look more like a part of their organizations.
The only problem with this particular account is that I needed to be on-site in order to change the password and there was no way that I would be able to get to the client to make the change myself. On top of that, as most of you already know, I am not much of a tech guy, so in terms of computers, I may have the latest equipment, but I sure don’t know how to use it in the best possible way to effect the most optimal outcomes. Suffice it to say that I am a real liability when it comes to people depending on me to use technology to do things better or faster or more effectively.
Therefore, I ran into a problem. I didn’t know how to change the password on my account and I certainly couldn’t be on-site to do it, so I did the best thing I could think of. I called a co-worker and asked him to change my password for me. I know him well enough to trust that he wouldn’t do anything to harm me or embarrass me, but he also knows that I am not the best guy in the world to handle technical assignments. Furthermore, I’m not really good at remembering passwords – I have to write them all down in a protected spreadsheet so I can always find the right way to login.
To cut to the chase, I was excited that my co-worker agreed to help me and take care of everything necessary to change the settings. I couldn’t help but laugh when he let me know my new password – Janet4ever… He said that he thought it was one of the phrases that I could remember without having to write it down – and he was correct. Not only was it easy for me to recall, but I must have sent a message to him that Janet and I are a team. We don’t make independent decisions about what we are going to do – we agree to a course of action – together – and that must have impressed my friend. While many of my acquaintances don’t tend to live life as a couple, Janet and I do. And neither one of us is afraid to speak about our dedication to the other. Yes, indeed, Janet4ever…
You probably know where I am going with this – but there is one other forever friend that I have – and that is God. In fact, God has known me longer than anyone else – even my parents. That doesn’t mean that I had a relationship with Him, but I can assure you that He had a relationship with me – before I was ever even born. I guess you could say that my parents “met” me the moment I came into this world, but God is truly “out of this world”. He created me, in the truest sense of the word, and through my submission to Him as Lord and Savior of my life, He has become a forever friend. And that is something that I don’t have to write down to remember, because it permeates every moment of my life – just as Janet’s love for me and my love for her.
The verse for today is from 1 John 2:17, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Because when you do the will of God, you are living for Him, and that sets you apart from the rest of the world. My encouragement this evening if to affirm that God wants to be your friend forever as well. My prayer is that you will deepen your friendship with the creator of the universe and know that this relationship will never end – God4ever… Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…