I normally post to this site on Sunday and Wednesday, but this one is a day late due to a large event I was working yesterday. I do administrative work from home for the Greater Chicago Pest Management Alliance. That includes managing promotion and registration for their educational seminars and conferences. The largest event is an annual all-day conference at a Convention Center less than a mile from my home.
When that regional association was formed in 2004, I served on the board of directors and was their first education committee chairman (for the first few years I was the entire education committee). Yesterday was the twelfth year of our “Meeting of the Minds” conference. I had a desire to bring in speakers from universities throughout the country to share the latest research in their fields in order to promote the effectiveness, professionalism and safety of our members. I was thrilled that we had over a hundred attendees for that first conference. It has drawn over 300 attendees for the past five years. Attendance yesterday was 340.
Now that you know the background, let me get to the point. I spent the whole day greeting and catching up with old friends. During my 25 years working in the pest control industry and my continued work with GCPMA after that, I have formed good friendships with my supervisors and mentors; the people I supervised and mentored; my peers; and even my competitors. Those friendships are very precious to me. It is amazing and gratifying how many good friendships have formed over the years.
My men’s group at church is called Iron Men. It is based on Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron a friend sharpens a friend.” Our meetings are like those of the early churches we read about in the New Testament. We break bread together; we laugh together; we share our prayer requests and burdens; and we rejoice over praise reports about what God is doing in our lives. Last week one man shared that he has been healed of serious kidney disease. We are more than friends – we are brothers. God’s spirit moves in our midst and miracles take place. My friends not only keep me sharp they bless me. I love to rejoice about their successes and pray with them for burdens to be lifted.
There is a new TV series on CBS at 8:00 pm central time on Sunday evening called God Friended Me. It is technically oriented to appeal to young viewers, but the relationships touch my heart. Check it out when you get a chance. Long before Face Book or Twitter, God sought to restore our friendship with Him, He sent His Son to die for us while we were still enemies. There is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends. What a friend we have in Jesus.