“I no longer call you servants… Instead, I have called you friends.” John 15:15

A man died in a house fire, and I had his funeral. As we stood by the grave in the family cemetery, I noticed three large dogs walking toward us. I was a little concerned because they were his dogs. Usually when I visited the house he would have to come out and watch them before I could get out of the car. They came into the cemetery and when the service started, they sat down. After we finished and walked away, they stayed there. Later I spoke to a man who helped close the grave; he said they sat there until the grave was closed, and then they got up and went home.

There are things that I do not try to explain or even understand; there is an unexplainable law of love and loyalty that God has placed in life. We humans seem to have misplaced those virtues so much of the time.

The Bible says that “a friend loves at all times.” It also says, “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Jesus is that kind of friend. Should it seem like all the world forsake us, Jesus will still be there. In life’s lonely hours, we are not alone.

The only place that we will not expect to be with Jesus is at our grave. By the time they get us there, we will already be at His house.

“There is not a friend like Jesus
In the trying scenes of life;
He can hear the heart’s faint whisper,
Calm the tempest’s raging strife.

There is not a friend like Jesus,
Patient, tender, kind, and true;
If you’ll be a friend of Jesus,
He will be a friend to you.”

Grace and Peace, Rev Ray