So, I lost a friend on Friday. He died unexpectedly from a heart attack. We are all in shock because he was a strong man, but more importantly, a good friend. The most surprising thing is that I hardly knew him. We met only 8 months ago in July 2020 another friend told me “Adele I have a friend who would like to join your walking group.” So along he came: Jesùs Hernanz.
He looked a bit like Fidel Castro and that was the nickname I gave him. He was one of those people that you are instantly drawn to and feel that you have known your whole life. He was kind patient and warm-hearted and an instant hit with everyone.
Truth be told I only saw him once a week when we went walking but he always warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face. When people had a comment to make, and sometimes not even nice ones, there he was in my corner: He had my back. I called him a hero several times when he came to my defense or when he helped people along the hiking routes we made. The last thing he wrote was: “I only rescue the lost.” ( on hikes).
So what is a friend exactly? The answer is simple. A gift from the LORD. What is a gift? Something given to you whether you deserve it or not. It’s not given based on anything you have done or haven’t done, it’s given because someone loves you enough to share part of their happiness with you, to let you know they care about you and to bring a little happiness to your soul.
What is different about friends? They are not disposable. They are not useless. They don’t go out of fashion. They can’t be locked up in the attic or be forgotten about. They can’t be sold on eBay (at least I hope not) or returned to sender. They come into our lives when we least expect and very often when we most need them. Some for a short period and some for a lifetime.
There is an expression ” you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family” But what about this: Our friends are chosen for us by our circumstances. Take a few minutes to think about your friends: Where did you meet them? Under what circumstances and would you have met them if the circumstance wasn’t there?
You see God orders our steps, whether you like that idea or not, and in ordering our steps he also puts people in them to help us along the way. He never intended us to live life by ourselves; He created us as social beings to interact with others. And because that is how He created us, he intended us to be with people and to be friends with them. And because he wants us to be with people he created the concept of friends: Belonging accepting uplifting and encouraging.
It also takes a friend to be a friend… we can’t just so making demands on people without accepting the demands made on us: Friendship was never intended to be one-sided. It’s a give and take relationship if it’s all give or all take then it’s not friendship. Friendship is co-operating with one another whether you see them every day or only once a year a true friend will always be there for you and you should always be there for them, even if not physically, but that they can feel your support. We don’t need fairweather friends because life is not all a bunch of roses we need all-rounders in season and out of season to laugh with and to cry with to have a shoulder and to give a shoulder. We should tell our friends constantly how much they mean to us and how happy we are to have them in our lives because just like Jesùs we just don’t know how much time we will have with them.
Keep your friends close. Thank God for them on a daily basis and never take them for granted. You never truly know how much of an impact you can have on someone’s life and it’s most definitely the small things in life that make the biggest difference.

Here are a few questions that will all be answered NO
Does Jesùs know the impact he had on my life? NO
Will I ever see him again? NO
Will I ever forget the joy of having him as a friend even for such a short time? NO
Did I know him that well? NO
Does that matter? NO

And here are some answered YES
Did he make me smile? YES
Did he warm my heart? YES
Did I value him as a friend? YES
Will I miss him greatly? YES
Was it a privilege having him as a friend YES

Let your Yes’s be YES and your No’s be NO for the right reasons and keep your friends in the highest esteem.