For the Love of a Friend

It was dark out. The Day had moved from light into the darkness of night. Recalling a former time when Yeshua had told me, “Remember in the darkness what your Learned in the Light”, I was now standing on the pier. The ship was about to leave and loving family members were milling about below the massive structure of steel that loomed in the darkness. My friend, who was an enlisted man on the ship, had not come to say goodbye before going onboard ship. He had boarded the ship early for duty and could not come back to shore to gather anymore belongings or to tell those he was close to, “goodbye”. Saying goodbye had always been difficult for me. “See ya later”! was more apropos for me. Now, as I stood at the base of this monstrous beast of steel, I longed to see his face one more time. I longed for the Love of a Friend.

My friend and I had been through some Rocky terrain. These difficulties stemmed mainly from my religious beliefs and my Dedication to the God of Heaven. He wanted to be my god and I could not leave God for any man. Because of this Obedience and Love for the Almighty, many men had passed on through my life to be with someone who would idolize them. The last time I had seen this friend, he passed me by with that short little wave people do when they want to acknowledge you without having to really talk to you. He was with a woman who had short, curly brown hair. She was smiling like the Cheshire cat. She was not Dressed beautifully, but in scruffy clothes like he liked to wear when he worked. Her Robes were tattered and torn. There was no Light Shining from her eyes for him, as there was from my eyes. She had won her battle to take this friend from Me. I thought to myself, “She may have won the battle, but she has not Won the War”!

As I stood at the bottom of the gang plank, looking up to the top which had been separated from the portion of the flight deck that was an elevator lowered to the hangar deck providing entry to the hangar bay, I was looking feverishly for any semblance of my friend. My friend typically stood by the rail and waved to me as a final acknowledgement that he would be seeing me when He Returned. The flight deck was intact ready for departure, the dry dock had been filled to brimming with water as the massive door slowly opened to allow sea water to fill the devoid space and lift the ship in preparation for escaping this long, grueling captivity. There was no image of him etched against the sky to give me comfort for this Voyage. No Wave of the Hand to give Peace in my Heart for him this time.

I awoke from the Dream, startled.  My friend had said the night before that he was going into Seattle in the morning to do some work.  The house he was to work on had a clear view of the air events for SeaFair.  The Blue Angels would be flying by in the morning as a guest appearance.  The house was in the possession of a very nice woman.  I had met her in the past and really liked her.  The friend had told me he was going, but didn’t really ask me if I wanted to go along.  He had left the offer, “up in the air”. 

The Dream had been Advice for me. I was to let my friend go. We were no longer going to be close like before. He had made Life Choices that I could not Accept. We would be Following different paths from here on out. It gave me a scared feeling for him. I didn’t want him to die. The thought of letting him go to travel the dark road with a woman who didn’t Love him, was almost too much for me. I had let so many people “go” for the Sake of my God. People make their choices in life and it was not for me to try and keep my friend on the Narrow Road with me.

At 4:30am, I called my friend. He was awake and answered the phone right away! I explained that I wasn’t going to Seattle with him in the Morning. He started lecturing me on my isolation from people because of my religious Convictions. My heart hurt and I longed for the Love of my friend. I interrupted and said, “Thank you, but I will not be going with you in the morning. Please don’t call me when you are ready to go.” I disconnected the call and settled in to write this hub for You.