Today as we prepare to say goodbye to my in-laws, I am comforted by my best friend: Jesus. Oh, I know it sounds “ultra spiritual” for me to say that Jesus is my best friend, and I don’t mean it in a “pious” way, goodness no! But there is just no other way to put it. A best friend is someone who loves you and stays with you no matter how badly you “blow it”. If you could see my life, and all the times I’ve messed up -sometimes while even trying to do right! – then you would know that I speak the truth. Through all my faults and failures, Jesus has been my best friend. He has been the one who loved me unconditionally.
When I was nine, I said “goodbye” to my sister as she left for Bible college. I remember crying myself to sleep many a night. We had shared a room all of my life, and now I was alone. I felt forsaken. I remember asking the Lord to “comfort” me, as the Bible says that the Holy Spirit will do. Melanie was heading to northern Indiana for college, and it gets *very* cold up there. Mom had bought her a warm comforter for her bed. As I prayed, I would picture that comforter wrapped snugly about me. My next thought was “It’s 6:00! Time to get up already!” and another day had begun. Jesus had sat with me through the cold and lonely night. He gently saw to it that a nine year old girl fell asleep despite her fears and sadness. Now that is a best friend, isn’t it?
I have said more goodbyes than I would like to count! I’ve said “goodbye” to my parents when I moved away; to my brother, when he left Arkansas for Florida, and the hardest of all – and seemingly the most permanent of them all – to my Dad when he went Home. (Boy, do I miss him.)
As I sit here in my spot, preparing to face another day, I read from Mark 14: 50 And they all forsook him, and fled. The faithful disciples forsook Jesus as He was about to face the Cross! They failed Him! They let Him down! Just as I have so many times. Yet, what did Jesus do? He kept going. He traveled the dark and lonely path to Calvary. He suffered. He bled. He died. Why would He do this? Of course, so that we could be spared from Hell. But He also did it so that a nine year old girl would not have to cry alone in her bed at night. He did this so that a grown woman would have the strength to leave friends and family for His sake. He did this so that we, the saved, would never be alone again! (Hebrews 13:5)
As I prepare today to say goodbye – again – I am so thankful for my best friend. While others forsook Him, He will NEVER forsake me.

I am so glad that Jesus never leaves.