When I take my friend's hands now, it's to help her sit forward in her armchair so that she can hear me while we pray together.  Somehow we always manage to keep our voices free of the strain we feel as gravity tries to pull her away from me.Was it really just two years ago that I held her hand as we crossed a parking lot together?  How did she get so frail so fast?My mind struggles against it, still expecting, still wanting to walk into her assisted living apartment and find her strong, like I remember her.I'm trying not to forget the clarity she brought to God's Word for me, and the love she instilled in me for His church, and the patient instruction she gave me as we served Him together.My friend is starting to forget what day it is, but she'll ask me to remind her.  I admire her as she strains to be with me in the here and now.One day I lifted a vase of dying flowers from her window sill and carried it to the wastebasket, but she stopped me."Can't you see how beautiful they are?  How they are trying to live?"My love for her is all caught up in my love for the church, as I've watched them advance and change together.  I try to be like my mentor, looking ahead to where God is leading us all and running the race with passion as I take the baton from her hand, but sometimes...I don't feel ready...Where does the time go, and how will I keep up?  How will I ever measure up?My friend and I both like to look out of our windows at the moon and stars as they follow their set courses across the night sky with the passing months and changing seasons.  Reassuring signs from God that He never changes, and that He is with us and always will be.Jesus has come and, as surely as the sun rises at the dawn of day, He will come again!When I close my eyes I can see Him circling us, year after church year, speaking the reassuring Words of God's promise that once created, and now nurture and strengthen our shared faith in Him..."The people walking in darkness have seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:2)… "For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11)… "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" (Matthew 4:17)… "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:14)… "It is finished" (John 19:30)… "He has risen!" (Mark 16:6)… "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (Mark 16:15)… "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age..." (Matthew 28:20)"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."  (Matthew 24:35)How is it that I am able to hold my friend close knowing that someday, like everyone else in this passing world, she will be taken away from me?  What has enabled me, all of these years, to open up to the pain of that separation?Only God's faithfulness, His promise fulfilled in Jesus!Only my very real experience of that faithfulness in His Word and in the church, which never pass away.  Only my experience of Jesus, the One who gave me clarity, passion, patient instruction and so much love through my friend, and who continues to give me all that I need through new relationships in the church.Jesus came in the flesh to suffer the pain of separation from God so that we can be brought close to The Almighty forever.   Jesus' resurrection changes everything, giving new, beautiful and eternal life to all who trust in Him for forgiveness of their sin and for salvation!I trust that I will always find my dear friend in Jesus, and this gives me strength to hold her close.Jesus gives me that trust, through the experience of His faithfulness as I take hold of His outstretched hand, let Him hold me close in His promises, and open my life up to Him and to others in the church, year after year.God's passionate, enduring, and completely unmerited love for us in Jesus is what makes relationship, with all of it's joys and trials, possible.  His love opens our hearts up to each other, and to all of those still in need of His grace.