The grandparent's dining room set did well with the move, except for the china cabinet, which lost a 4' x 1.5' glass panel. Taking out the old one was no problem, so I took careful measurements and set out to buy glass. Again, no problem, until the salesman walked quickly past me with a piece of glass, and a point of reflected light caught my eye.
I followed. "No problem," he said as he quickly folded a piece of paper over the corner. "Let me look at that, just a second." Under the paper, the corner was crushed, far enough to show in the china cabinet. Words flowed. "That'll never show, just the corner, I promise the crack won't spread." Sometimes caught is caught!
There are lots of places to buy stuff; no need to guess whether the man is setting out to fool you! So, I changed, no problem. Life is full of moments like that. There was a day when I said, "Well, this is my last ____________ car. I've now driven every name-label they produce; same problems every time."
Loyalties are the flip side of that. Accountable friends, straight-forward merchants, dependable mechanics, all trusted because of experience.
Faith-loyalties are like that. My faith-friend does not try to lead me by fooling me! Open, honest conversation leads to relationships you can stake your life on. Those are essential. After all, one relationship is vital: you literally stake your life on Jesus! And on covenant friends you find in His good company.
Now? Well, I think my friends deserve just that kind of honesty. They OUGHT to test me on it, and I them; we're in this life business for the long haul, until Jesus takes us home.
Blessings.
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