We plan to spend time with both family and friends during our year of travel. It surprises me how much I enjoy these visits, even during this first month on the road. For example, we visited former neighbors of ours from Elk Grove, the Van Bergeyks. Though we had exchanged only Christmas letters for the last four years, in our brief visit with them, it felt like they had never left. Both Pam and I enjoyed great times of conversation with the parents. Our four kids quickly developed an excellent rapport with their three. And even though we have been gone only a week, our time with these friends met a deep need in my heart: the need to know and be known.

                During our visit to Corvallis, OR, we attended the Calvary Chapel Corvallis, along with my mom and our friends, the Hellestos. That morning we heard a sermon on all of Proverbs 18. One verse stuck out to me, and it underscores the lesson for this month.

Lesson 4:

  Some friends play at friendship but a true friend sticks closer than one’s nearest kin. (Proverbs 18:24, NRSV )