Finishing the Race – Strong! (5)

 

Sunday Morning Football

 

Andy Shipp was one of the most vibrant people I’ve ever known. Kenny Brelsford is another. Kenny was in our parish in the Berkshires, and Andy was in our church in the Shenandoah Valley. Well do I recall Kenney saying to me years after we had moved back to Virginia, “Pastor Bob, I never knew Jesus was all I needed until Jesus was all I had.”

 

Both Andy and Kenny took joy in seeing joy in others; they were both men who “showed up” when folks needed them. Once, when I was in Iowa and our sunroom roof was leaking from melting snow, Vickie called Kenny and Kenny showed up to deal with the problem. Another time, when we had a snake invasion and I needed help, I called Kenny and he showed up.

 

My neighbor Maureen and I were talking about friendship a couple of years ago and she said, “You know, being a friend is about showing up. It isn’t about what you do or what you say as much as it is about just being there.”

 

I suppose we could say that there are two types of people in the world, those who show up and those who don’t. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Make every effort to come to me soon” (2 Timothy 4:9); he wrote this because he knew that Timothy would show up. I imagine that when Timothy read Paul’s letter that he dropped everything and headed to Rome, stopping only to get the cloak and books from Troas and picking up Mark (4:11 – 13). When your friend needs you, you move fast.

 

Showing up is not always easy, it can be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. I have a friend who I call every year during the week that she lost her husband; I also call during the holidays. If we lived closer I’d go see her, phone calls are hard because somehow, someway, you have to talk; personal visits can be hard but you don’t have to talk as much. There are other friends and family who I also connect with to let them know I remember their loss. Then there are others who I touch base with periodically to let them know that I’m still here for them, still praying for them, still care about them. Some get back to me and some don’t; we do what we can by the grace of Jesus.

 

I think that maybe if you live long enough you figure out who will show up for you and who won’t. Sometimes people surprise us…both ways.

 

Friendship can be hard, faithfulness to others will be hard at times. We are so accustomed to taking the easy way out that we make excuses for not doing what we ought to do. When someone says to me about a terminally ill friend, “I’d go see him but I don’t know what to say.” Or concerning a friend who has just lost a spouse, “I’d call him but I don’t know what to say.” I want to say, “You need to forget about yourself and just show up.”

 

Faithfulness and friendship take courage. Since we’ve pretty much become a nation and church of cowards, we seldom feel remorse at taking the easy way by not showing up. We will avoid pain at pretty much all cost (which is why we have excuse upon excuse not to share Jesus with others, and we don’t have the least bit of remorse or shame about it). I wonder why Revelation 21:8 puts the cowardly at the top of the list of those who suffer the second death.

 

Andy Shipp was always showing up for people, at work, in the community, at church. His life verse was Philippians 1:6:

 

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

 

Perhaps Andy was always showing up for others because Jesus was always showing up for him; perhaps Andy was simply passing on to others what he was receiving from Jesus.

 

I still need to share about Andy and Sunday morning football…the Lord willing, we’ll do that next time.

 

Am I showing up for the people in my life?

 

What about you?