To Be There

Dedicated to honor My Lord, Jesus Christ and in honor

of my close friend, Orlando P. Tijerina

To Be There

In the book of John chapter 15 verses 13 & 14 it states: “Greater love has no man than this that he that lays down his life for his friend. Ye are My friends if ye do whatever I command you.” In this life we come across people that betray us, back stab us, hate us, or simply just make less of us. People, out of convenience, become your friends, but once they’ve got what they want, they “leave you hanging”. There are the type of friends that will be your friends, and maybe you even trust them enough to

confide personal things in them, but suddenly they get mad at you for something you said or did, and they use

everything they know about you, against you. That is not a friend, but surely is an acquaintance, or in more common words, a fake! There are many acquaintances in the church now a days, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. A friend that will never turn His back on you or back stab you. There will always be a friend that will not throw your mistakes in your face. He will never leave you

when all you want to do is cry and cry and cry with someone on your side or literally lean on his shoulder. He will be there 24 - 7, willing just “to be there”. In one occasion, I didn’t know what was wrong. I was feeling a void within me. An emptiness. All I wanted to do was to be with someone. Everyone was busy, and everyone will always be busy, especially when you need them. I tried visiting some family members, hoping I would be able to lean on one of them, but no one was willing. Finally, I called Brother Bear. We were just talking about anything and then he asked me, “What’s wrong?” I answered, “Nothing, really, I just called to see what’s up.” He asked me if I was sure and I

responded yes. Then he said, “Well, the reason I ask is because there have been times when people call me just to “see what’s up” and 10 minutes later I find out that they attempted suicide. I hesitated in telling him what I was feeling and I didn’t tell him anything at all. He, then, said something that made me see things differently whenever I receive a phone call. He said, “Well, my bro, whenever you need anything, or anyone to talk to, or just someone to

be on the phone and not even say a word, or just someone “to be there”, call me.” That is the type of friendship we should all give! Many times we are so caught up in our own world, in our so occupied lives, that if we receive a phone call, an unexpected visit, or a letter, we tend to just blow it off, not knowing that that person is indeed crying for help from his or her heart, or perhaps experiencing suicidal thoughts. Not knowing that that person may be contemplating, or thinking, about going back to the world just because he or she is lonely and their last hope is trying to have someone to pour out his or her heart to. Maybe that person’s heart has been broken and is bleeding,

and that person is just wishing with all his or her heart they could at least see you, but you don’t make yourselves available. Instead, you kill with your actions. If you don’t see someone at church for a while, you don’t make an effort to go visit him or her, but little did you know that if you were to go visit him or her, once they opened that door, and saw your face there with the words, “I came just to chill with you, man,” coming out of your mouth, just little

did you know that he had a chair and a rope out in the back porch, ready to hang himself, but since you went just “to be there”, he or she was going to kick that chair, and pull the rope down, because someone showed love and true friendship. Little did you know, that when you received that phone call from your friend, of whom had just been abused by her father, and all you said was, “I’m sorry, but I’m on the other line with my boyfriend,” and hung up on her, just little did you know that if you were to have stayed on the phone talking to her, showing her such awesome Godly love, she was going to gather all those pills she was planning on taking, and throw them in the toilet to flush them, just because you decided just “to be there”. What kind of friend are you at this moment? Are you the friend that will be there for the suicidal one, the depressed one, discouraged, abused, hurt, neglected, or lonely? Or are you going to be the one that’s going to give the excuse of “I forgot” or “I don’t have any time”? The feeling of being backstabbed, betrayed, hurt, and neglected is so terrible and I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy. For that reason, us, children of the loving God, should share our friendship with love to help heal those bleeding hearts in Jesus’ Name. There is a phrase of a poem that says: