When Naomi had seemingly lost everything, the Lord caused Ruth to encourage and take care of her.  At a hard time in David's life, God brought Jonathan along to be his best friend and to brace him up.  At a hard time in Elijah's life, God brought Elisha along to join him in the work.   In 1 Kings 19:14, Elijah told God that he had been zealous for the Lord, but that now he was "the only one left".   So, God brought Elisha into his life.  Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach an Abed-nego were put together by God, and those guys weathered some serious trials.  Daniel 2:18 shows them praying for each other in a situation where they faced death.  Jesus Himself asked Peter, James and John to come with Him when He went to Gethsemane to pray and await His arrest.  Several times in the Bible Paul mentions friends who came along and helped him in a variety of ways. I can look back on my whole life up to this point and see that the Lord has provided for me in this way too.  He put me into a family who loved me and taught me how to love.  When the Lord began to call to me I was able to recognize Him and knew how to respond because of the way that I had seen my parents live by His Word.  Going into high school, God provided me with friends who loved Him and had a big hand in shaping my character.  Through my college years and beyond, He did the same thing.  For the last six years now I have lived in a new place where I did not know anyone but my wife, and the Lord has provided for us again.

There have been moments in life where I felt alone, but it ended up being just that, a feeling.  I have had some good times with all of these friends.  There have been plenty of refreshing times where we just savored the moment and kept the memory (many of those have involved grilling).  There have been plenty of raucous antics and even a few shenanigans.  There have been times where the Lord allowed us to see and do some awesome things that only He could have brought about.  There have also been times when we prayed for each other and stood side by side in the trenches together.  To answer Cain's ancient question that the world still asks:  yes, we are our brother's keeper.  While we live we must not let each other fall.  Show the blessings in your life that we call friends that you are bound to them by the brotherhood created and sustained by the Lord.  They need to know that you will pray for them and that where possible you will be the answer to those prayers.  Our kids need to see real men look each other in the eye and say "I love you".  Our kids need to see real men get dirty and sore and what ever else is necessary to show that love to each other.