Pressure Cooker

b. Scripture Comparison:

i. Proverbs 17:9 (Message) “Overlook an offense and bond a friendship; fasten on to a slight and—goodbye, friend!”

ii. Proverbs 17:9 (NIV) “He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.”

iii. Proverbs 17:17 (Message) “Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.”

iv. Proverbs 17:17 (NIV) “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

c. A real friend loves you in the good times and in pressure filled times.

i. A real friend loves at all times.

ii. A real friend is willing to go the extra mile in the pressure cooker times of life.

iii. They do not write you off when the relationship has a snag or a disagreement.

iv. Real friendship seeks the good in others and learns to overlook the mistakes of the other person.

v. Real friendship desires good of another person not evil

vi. Real friendship is willing to forgive and forget

1. Matthew 6:14, 15: 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

2. This story comes from Why Can’t You Forgive by Jeremy Houck sermoncentral.com:

a. It was April 19th 1995 that we suffered the atrocity of the Oklahoma City Bombing. As I was thinking about our sermon today I ran across a story from that event that I would like to share with you today.

Bud Welch lost his 23-year old daughter, Julie, in the blast that destroyed the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people in all. In a story entitled, "Where Healing Begins" from a 1999 edition of Guideposts Magazine, he recounts the extraordinary personal journey to forgiveness that began for him on April 19, 1995. "From the moment I learned it was a bomb," Bud writes, "I survived on hate." His anger was focused on Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, and like so many others, Bud wished for their speedy conviction and execution. When he saw McVeigh’s father on television a few months after the bombing, however, Bud’s emotions began to shift for the first time. He remembers thinking to himself, "this man has lost a child, too."

A second turning point in Bud’s journey came when he revisited the site of his daughter’s death in January 1996. Bud spotted an elm tree near the place where Julie had always parked her car. Despite damage from the blast, the tree had survived and even sprouted new branches. "The thought that came to me then seemed to have nothing to do with new life," he writes. "It was the sudden, certain knowledge that McVeigh’s execution would not end my pain." Bud’s advocacy of the death penalty for McVeigh ended soon after, and not without drawing notice. He began receiving invitations to speak about his evolving feelings, and one invitation arrived from Buffalo the home of McVeigh’s father. Bud knew it was time to meet.

On September 5, 1998, Bud Welch found himself in the home of Bill McVeigh, a "blue collar Joe" just like him. He also met Bill’s daughter, Jennifer, who reminded Bud of Julie’s friends. "We can’t change the past," Bud told Bill and Jennifer, "but we have a choice about the future."