A CLOSE FRIEND

Today's reading: Psalm 21-23

"Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me." Psalm 23:4 NLT

Oh, the things you can do with someone standing beside you!

When you were a child, holding a grown-up's hand allowed you access to many places you wouldn't have been allowed to go on your own.

As a kid, with a friend beside you--the sky was the limit! Challenges, dares, encouragement to go above and beyond what one might do alone.

As an adult, someone beside you might mean a spouse--oh, the places you will go with a husband or wife. Or with a lifelong friend--oh, the things you can get into with a nearest and dearest. Or with a fellow sojourner on this walk of faith--oh, the times you have shared on your knees.

But with God? With God you can go farther, deeper, more wildly loved than with anyone else.

Even the tough, hard, dark, shadowy and scary places.

He is, believing friend, close beside us.