(THIS COLUMN WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN FEBRUARY 2013. It is published today in memory of my friend who died January 22, 2013. His birthday was this week.)

My dearest friend died last week. He was a man that I was very close to in a wonderful friendship for 60 years. That is almost a complete lifetime.

I shared a lot with my friend. We were roommates all through college. He was the best man in my wedding. I shared his sorrow with him when his first wife died. After her death, we drove weekly the hundred miles that separated us to spend time together to alleviate his loneliness. He was faithfully with me – again closing the hundred-mile gap – when I was seriously ill requiring an extended stay in the hospital.

Through the years, we talked regularly on the phone. We met every year in a personal reunion.

At his funeral, several of his family members said to me, “He loved you.” And I replied, “I loved him too.” Two men – lifelong friends – both from the “old school” – but unashamed to say that we loved each other.

He was as close to me as a brother. I miss him. And I will miss William Loftis Satterfield for the rest of my life.

In a lifetime, most people have very few true friends. Many never have even one lifelong, true friend. I have been blessed to have some very good friends. Last week, I said goodbye in this world to one of the very closest of them.

There is a friend that we will never lose. He is the friend who is always with us; He never forsakes us. He has promised that He will always be with us. He is that friend who “sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)

Jesus is that friend. His is a husband to the widow. He is a father to the orphan. He is Savior to the sinner.

And if you will allow Him, He will be your friend. He said, “I do not call you servants; I have called you friends …” (John 15:15)

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Write the Pastor at PastorBill@firstagop.org