Be a friend

The bible is a fascinating read. It is the world’s most stolen book as well as the world’s best seller. Its 66 books, containing over half a million words, were created by more than 40 authors who wrote in three languages – Hebrew Greek and Aramaic and who lived on three continents. It has hundreds of stories, some of which might not be out of place in a TV soap opera or an addition of Ripley’s “Believe it or not”.
One such account, is recorded deep in the middle of the Old Testament and  tells the story of one of King David’s army commanders, called Benaiah. What we have is a brief snapshot of the day in the life of one of David’s mighty men. It is offered as a record of an historical event, with no opportunity taken by the author to spiritualise the event… though many religious insights have been offered by preachers since!
The series of events went like this. One snowy day Benaiah was on his way to his workplace when he fell into a pit which happened to have a lion in it. What to do? Well for Benaiah the answer was logical - he killed the lion,  climbed out of the pit and continued on his way. As if that wasn’t a difficult enough start to a day, as he was travelling further along he encountered a huge Egyptian armed with a spear. Once again the author simply records the facts. Benaiah took the spear from his adversary, killed him with it and continued on his journey.
And you think you have had a hard start to a Tuesday because you missed your coffee!
Every day we have decisions to make- some of which are run of the mill - taken, almost without thought while others might require us to spend more time reflecting on our options. Maybe even talking to a trusted friend. It might be a job choice of relationship problem. There are some decisions, however, that people should never have to make. Take former death row inmate, Brad Sigmon for example, who last week had to make a decision on the form of execution he would prefer from a list of three options - lethal injection, electric chair or firing squad. I feel physically sick at the thought that in today’s so called civilised world some countries retain the death sentence including death by means of a firing squad. How is this advancing civilisation?
Thankfully few of us will ever face such life or death choices, but we can all offer to be a support to those who are facing difficult decisions on their own.  So, if you have a free  moment today,  think about those in your friendship circle who might be having a hard time and maybe make a call to see if they could do with a friend.