BY RUSSELL TURNER
FAIR WEATHER FRIENDS
It has been said that we cannot pick our enemies but we can pick our friends. I have found that having true friends can be a huge blessing. When someone has the same values and supports the same causes that you do, they can be a source of inspiration. However everyone who claims to be your friend may not be a true friend. Some people are only your friend when things are going well or as long as have something they want. Some even base their friendship on how society accepts you; as long as you are accepted by the in clique they are your friend, but as soon as you fall out of the social graces your so-called friend doesn’t want to be seen with you. If someone is ashamed to be seen with me I certainly don’t want to call him my friend. This is the Christmas season; I feel that it should be a time when we look at ourselves and see how good a friend we are.
Christmas is supposed to be the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Our nation was founded upon the Judao Christian principles, but it seems that we have forgotten that. We have become so worried about being politically correct and offending some group we have remained silent when we should be speaking up in support of our friend and savior Jesus Christ. While many like to complain about the state of our nation and our elected leaders, we do little to stop it. In a Christian nation with churches everywhere why are we seeing the declines in morals, traditional family lifestyles and an out-of-control government? Are too many people afraid to speak up because they might be called some kind of terrorist because they profess their faith in Jesus Christ? Are we so afraid of offending some other religion that we are willing to allow Christianity to be minimized for some minority group?
While other religions claim to be a religion of peace, their actions prove otherwise. Instead of commanding Christians to kill anyone who doesn’t agree with them, Christ ordered his followers to love their enemies. The reason for the season is Jesus Christ, but we have substituted snowmen and jingle bells. I was in a major retail store the other day and I noticed there weren’t any nativity scenes for sale in the decoration section. Our nation has enjoyed many blessings from God. I wonder, how long will those blessings continue if we have become so politically correct that we are afraid of offending someone because we profess our faith? I believe that God gives each of us the 3T’s (time, talent and treasure) and it is our duty to use those gifts wisely. I think this Christmas season would be a good time to renew our friendship with God; like we humans He may not want to be our friend if we are ashamed of him. If we Americans have the good sense to renew that friendship we are promised that he will heal our land. Let us be more than a fair weather friend. Merry Christmas.
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