CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON -- The Moral of the Story

“Good friends are good for your health.”

-- Irwin Sarason

“Friends are the chocolate chips in the cookies of life.”

I smiled when I saw that slogan on a car’s bumper sticker last week.

On my short drive home from the market, I waved at two different friends

driving the other direction. Another friend honked as she drove by while

I unloaded my groceries.

“Wow, God,” I said out loud in my kitchen. “You have blessed me so

richly with friends. I bet that’s what you want me to write about in next

week’s column.”

The timing seemed perfect because I was going to spend the next two

days with a group of friends. Several of us planned to bike to San Diego,

where we would meet the others and go to a conference.

I rode a block to Anne’s house, where we were to rendezvous. We were

waiting for the others when Anne’s phone rang. It was obvious by her

response that something was wrong.

She hung up and told us that Pam, a friend who was coming this

weekend, was on her way to the emergency room. Her husband, Rod, had

suffered some sort of stroke. The paramedics had worked on him and were

en route to the hospital.

“We need to go be with Pam,” somebody said.

“You’re right, let’s go,” someone else added.

There was no question about it. We never took a poll. There was

clearly universal agreement. Friends are there for each other.

We stowed the bikes in the garage, piled into cars and headed to the

hospital. Some of us talked, some prayed and others made phone calls.

By the time we arrived, there was already a group of men in the

waiting room. Pam came out from the emergency room. She was surprised to

see so many people.

“The nurse said I might want to come out here, that there was a big

group here for me, and that people kept coming,” Pam said. “I can’t

believe you are all here. Don’t you want to go on your ride?”

“This is what friends do,” several people said, almost in unison.

Pam filled us in on Rod’s condition. We all crowded together and

prayed. Over the next few hours, people came and went offering love,

prayers and cafe lattes.

God answered those prayers in powerful ways.

The doctors are amazed, and Rod is now home and doing well.

“I saw God’s hand so clearly over and over in the last few days,” Pam

said. “There’s sure no question that God is real. It was overwhelming to

see how loved we are, not just by God, but by so many people. It’s

actually really been a blessed thing. I felt so comfortable and so

comforted. It’s amazing, I didn’t feel fear. Even when Rod was facing

death as he drove in the ambulance, he said he never felt fear either.

“We both felt so supported and held up by so many prayers.”

I only biked a block last Friday, but all of us traveled far down the

road of faith and friendship.

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks

frequently to parenting groups. She may be reached via e-mail at o7

cindy@onthegrow.comf7 or through the mail at P.O. Box 6140-No. 505,

Newport Beach, CA 92658.